Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Edward Weston
2S Shell

1927

About the Item

Weston created 2S after his return to America from two extended stays in Mexico between 1923 and 1927. Throughout 1927 he took twenty-six still life images of shells, including Nautilus 1927 (Museum of Modern Art, New York). His interest in nautilus shells was prompted by a 1927 meeting with the Californian painter Henrietta Shore, for whom Weston was a sitter at the time and who often featured shells in her paintings. Weston wrote in his diary of seeing these shells in her studio, stating that that he ‘never saw a Chambered Nautilus before. If I had, my response would have been immediate!’ (Weston 1966, p.21). Several months later he wrote of how his subsequent exploration of these forms had begun to consume his practice: I worked all Sunday with the shells – literally all day. Only three negatives made and two of them were done as records of movement to repeat again when I can find suitable backgrounds. I wore myself out trying every conceivable texture and tone for grounds: glass, tin, cardboard – wool, velvet, even my rubber coat! (Weston 1966, p.21.) His shells are an example of the ‘pure’ or ‘straight’ style that characterised Weston’s still life photographs. These terms first emerged in the 1880s to refer to a photographic approach that prioritised high contrast, sharp focus and an emphasis on the formal qualities of the subject, as opposed to the pictorialist tradition, in which subjects were photographically manipulated through soft focus, cropping and composite image techniques. - Tate Modern
  • Creator:
    Edward Weston (1886-1958, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1927
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 9.25 in (23.5 cm)Width: 7.38 in (18.75 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Printed later by Cole Weston from original neg. Original mounting crease bottom left and middle lower right visible in raking light. Upper middle quadrant very 1 very minor scuffs. Board has minor age brown-tone and some brown smudges. Thick board.
  • Gallery Location:
    Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: 53-00181stDibs: LU11513780172

More From This Seller

View All
White Rose
By Rod Dresser
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed and editioned mount recto. Titled, editioned and dated on Artist’s Choice stamp on mount verso. Also available larger in smaller editions outside of the book and print set. Pl...
Category

1990s Still-life Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled 2001
By Jerry Uelsmann
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.
Materials

Silver Gelatin

Eye Chair 1969
By Jerry Uelsmann
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed on the front. Contact gallery for prices and available sizes.
Category

20th Century Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Tilted Poles, Rhyl, Clywd, Wales
By Michael Kenna
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed on front of the mount.
Materials

Silver Gelatin

Untitled, Garden Study with Rosebuds
By Josef Sudek
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed on front of print.
Category

20th Century Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Skull and Ladder, Odeon Theatre, Paris, France, 2011
By Michael Kenna
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Signed, numbered and dated on front of the mount. Signed, dated, numbered and titled with artist's copyright stamp on back of the mount. Image size: 8 x 8 inches approximately. Over...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

You May Also Like

Contemporary Black and White Still Life Photograph of a Wig Shop
Located in Houston, TX
Black and white contemporary photograph by Houston, TX artist, Jim Reitz. This photograph depicts a wig shop that is stocked to the brim with inventory. Curr...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Vintage Silver Gelatin Signed Photograph Pinhole Photo
By Jo Ann Callis
Located in Surfside, FL
Jo Ann Callis (American, b. 1940); Gelatin silver print; Signed, dated and numbered 3/10 Jo Ann Callis (born Cincinnati, Ohio 1940) is an American artist who works with photography and is based in California. Though Callis initially pursued a degree at Ohio State University in 1958, she dropped out in her second year when she got married. She and her husband moved to Southern California in 1961. Her father died after the birth of her first son Stephen in the same year. In 1963, her second son Michael was born. By 23, she was married with two children; she later separated from her husband. Callis enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1970 initially in graphic design. When she took a course from Robert Heinecken...
Category

20th Century Surrealist Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Ed's Place, near Norfolk, Nebraska
By Wright Morris
Located in Dallas, TX
Signed in pencil on print verso.
Category

1940s Modern Black and White Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Homage to Joseph Cornell (Old Monk Cherries / Post's Bran Flakes)
Located in Dallas, TX
Homage to Joseph Cornell (Post's Bran Flakes), ca. 1940's 10 x 8 in., Vintage gelatin silver print Homage to Joseph Cornell (Old Monk Cherries), ca. 1940's 10 x 8 in., Vintage gela...
Category

1940s Modern Still-life Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mauretania - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print
Located in London, GB
Mauretania - Silver Gelatin Fibre Print (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) The Cunard superliner Mauretania being refitted in the dry dock at Southampton. Additional I...
Category

1950s Modern Still-life Photography

Materials

Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Square Table (Contemporary Sepia Toned Still Life Photograph of Antique Table)
By David Halliday
Located in Hudson, NY
Square Table, 1992 Still Life Photograph of Antique Table by David Halliday Sepia toned silver gelatin print, edition of 15 Custom brown wood shadow box frames, no mat with AR non g...
Category

1990s Contemporary Still-life Photography

Materials

Archival Paper, Archival Ink, Silver Gelatin

Recently Viewed

View All