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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 18, 2024 0:28:10 GMT -5
This thread has me remembering the old days when I was a master craftsman. Here are a couple of artworks that I handled in the big camera room The first is a Georgia O'keeffe that I made separations on. This was for the HMFA. I liked it so much that I brought home a press proof and framed it. It hung in our house from 1990 to 2005. Don't know what happened to it  The next is one of the 2 Edward Weston prints. These were interesting because they were a three color tri-tone. I can't remember the exact colors we used to create a rich sepia-brown to match the original. The museum curator stayed with me at work for 2 days. One for the separations and another day to decide on the correct inks to use. I was really proud of this as it was at the time I was really into photography and Weston was one of my inspirations. I also did a couple of Ansel Adams, but those were double black black duotones. The Weston pictures were used in posters for museums all over the country. It was the first touring exhibit of forty by Anne Tucker, the first photography curator for the Houston museum of fine arts. Before her, the museum had almost no photographs because they weren't considered art there before they got a huge gift to found the collection.  |
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Post by urbino on Feb 18, 2024 0:39:42 GMT -5
This thread has me remembering the old days when I was a master craftsman. Back when I did a lot of fishing, I was a master baiter. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 18, 2024 0:46:20 GMT -5
This thread has me remembering the old days when I was a master craftsman. Back when I did a lot of fishing, I was a master baiter. I'll bet you were! đ I accidentally posted before I finished. |
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Post by CrustyCat on Feb 19, 2024 0:42:34 GMT -5
Those are really interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 20, 2024 0:35:02 GMT -5
Those are really interesting. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for appreciating! |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 13:09:03 GMT -5
Weston worked with minimal equipment. All view cameras. Many of his original prints have not survived because he mounted them with rubber cement. The sulfur destroyed them over time. A tragedy. I have seen many of his originals. I used to take my classes to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has a wonderful photo department. We could call for any prints we wished to see in their viewing room. Very exciting.
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 13:30:41 GMT -5
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 20, 2024 15:35:42 GMT -5
Weston worked with minimal equipment. All view cameras. Many of his original prints have not survived because he mounted them with rubber cement. The sulfur destroyed them over time. A tragedy. I have seen many of his originals. I used to take my classes to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has a wonderful photo department. We could call for any prints we wished to see in their viewing room. Very exciting. I believe that the 2 prints I handled were originals. They were the basis of the first photography collection of a major metropolitan fine arts museum. I know that most Weston prints on the market are new. The old ones can be properly treated easily if they get to them in time. Some were fine from the beginning, some didn't last a year. I am not sure about the negatives, but I would guess that that all extant negatives have been run through fresh fixer and wash, and probably an extra treatment I don't know about. To me, Weston tried to do everything in the camera, while Adams was the master of the print. It would be almost impossible to recreate an Ansel Adams print from the original negative, while the Weston prints would just be a short trial and error exercise. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 16:54:02 GMT -5
Westonâs son Brett has made all (I think) of the non-vintage modern prints of his work.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 20, 2024 17:45:17 GMT -5
Westonâs son Brett has made all (I think) of the non-vintage modern prints of his work. Yes, I believe so. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 18:04:50 GMT -5
I had to look it up, but Brett Weston died in â93. I donât know if any Edward W. prints have been made after his death. He was pretty active in that work so it may not be necessary. Iâm ignorant of the Weston market.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 20, 2024 19:02:27 GMT -5
I had to look it up, but Brett Weston died in â93. I donât know if any Edward W. prints have been made after his death. He was pretty active in that work so it may not be necessary. Iâm ignorant of the Weston market. It doesn't look like there are any living descendants. I guess that whoever owns the negatives can do what they want with them. I think I recall a solicitation to buy EW prints from the original negatives about 25 or 30 years ago, but I can't be sure. It was too expensive for me at the time. I don't expect they retain the value of one printed by the family. Brett was an excellent photographer in his own right and he worked side by side with his dad, so there is a continuation of his father's work. He was also a pipe smoker, as were most of the intelligent men of the past few centuries. đ  |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 19:45:21 GMT -5
And a few of those today.đ
I believe the negatives are secure in a Weston foundation. I see no point in any more prints from them.
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 19:52:01 GMT -5
When Weston was living and working in Mexico he photographed his son Neil, in a full length nude portrait that evidently cannot be shown on the ânet today as it would be called out as âchild pornography.â www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/286228It was a bit disturbing to read in his DAY NOTES that he was approached by a wealthy Mexican pederast with a request that he be allowed to âtake Neil under his wing.â Weston evidently considered it, since it would have given Neil advantages that he could not afford to provide for him. I do not know the outcome. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 20:34:03 GMT -5
My apologies for a faulty memory. It has been quite a few years since I have looked into Weston's DAY BOOKS (not DAY NOTES) and so I cry mercy for my errors. The son in question was not Neil, but Brett, who was 13 at the time. And Weston rejected the Mexicanâs âoffers.â Not on moral grounds as he is careful to point out, but for other concerns for Brettâs health and development. It was complicated for him and swift condemnation should not be indulged in.
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Post by urbino on Feb 20, 2024 20:36:39 GMT -5
When Weston was living and working in Mexico he photographed his son Neil, in a full length nude portrait that evidently cannot be shown on the ânet today as it would be called out as âchild pornography.â www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/286228It was a bit disturbing to read in his DAY NOTES that he was approached by a wealthy Mexican pederast with a request that he be allowed to âtake Neil under his wing.â Weston evidently considered it, since it would have given Neil advantages that he could not afford to provide for him. I do not know the outcome. Sally Mann could testify to the truth of that first paragraph. |
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Post by Plainsman on Feb 20, 2024 20:39:07 GMT -5
Hers and Westonâsâ beautiful images declared obscene by idiots.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 20, 2024 21:50:05 GMT -5
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon would be in so much trouble.
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