“A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON THE MEDIUM AS AN ART FORM”: BRETT WESTON, A PERSONAL SELECTION, SIGNED BY HIM

WESTON, Brett. Brett Weston. A Personal Selection. Carmel, California: Photography West Graphics, (1986). Large quarto, original black cloth, original dust jacket. $950.

First trade edition of Weston’s fifth published collection, signed by him on the half title, with 101 exhibition-size laser fultone plates, an extraordinary volume of previously unpublished photographs, personally supervised by this visionary “wunderkind of photography.”

“Renowned for his magisterial, sharply delineated landscapes and close-ups,” Brett Weston was the second son of legendary photographer Edward Weston. Acclaimed for similar visionary eye and a craftsmanship that created photographs “considered to be crisper than his father’s,” Weston helped craft a purist, abstract approach that “exerted a major influence on the development of the medium as an art form” (New York Times). Praised as “a wunderkind of photography” (Szarkowski, 122), Brett Weston shocked the photographic community when he “destroyed all but 12 of his negatives” on his 80th birthday (New York Times). In an interview given shortly before that day, Weston noted that the remaining negatives would be donated to a university but to prevent others from printing his work, “I’m scratching them… Printing is the ultimate moment of truth in photography… It’s a very personal thing.” Later Weston observed that of all his publications, “Personal Selection is my best book” (PhotoPro Magazine). Introduction by Dody W. Thompson. Published same year as a signed limited edition; no priority established. With laid-in photographic invitation to a reception at Carmel’s Photography West Gallery; two publisher’s promotional leaflets for the book (one in original envelope).

A fine signed copy.