Edward Weston

From 515 Madison Ave., New York City, 1941

In 1941, the great American photographer Edward Weston accepted a commission to illustrate Leaves of Grass, by the great American poet Walt Whitman. A show opening April 21 at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts presents images from the project, all shot on a cross-country trip. Weston is known for tending more to the look of his photos than to their subjects. Under Whitman’s influence, however, content seems to come first.
Slide show.

Edward Weston

Tina Modotti, 1923

"To clearly express my feeling for life with photographic beauty, present objectively the texture, rhythm, form in nature, without subterfuge or evasion in technique or spirit, to record the quintessence of the object or element before my lens, rather than an interpretation, a superficial phase, or passing mood--this is my way in photography. It is not an easy way." Edward Weston