PHOTOGRAPHS
Weston, Edward
U.S. (1886 - 1958)
Leadfield, Death Valley
1939
Gelatin silver print
7 5/8 x 9 5/8 in. (19.3 x 24.5 cm) image size; 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm) sheet size
Monsen Study Collection of Photography, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen
FA 89.32

In 1936 Edward Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship. With the grant he produced the California and West series over the course of the next two years. Over 1,500 negatives were taken during his travels, documenting the landscapes of California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, and Washington. Leadfield, Death Valley captures the ghost town of Leadfield, California, which in 1926, had promise of providing financial gain from mining. However, less than six months after the town was established, it was abandoned.

“My project was officially titled THE MAKING OF A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE WEST, which translated into unofficial terms, meant traveling where I pleased and photographing whatever I wanted to photograph. I chose to concentrate on California for several reasons. First, the high cost of a photography-travel project could be somewhat reduced by working in a territory where I had bases with darkrooms available, and where the weather would permit camping out most of the year. Second, I knew enough of this state to realize it held such a rich variety of material, I could not exhaust it in ten years.” -Edward Weston. California and the West, written by Edward Weston and Charis Wilson, documents a detailed account of the trip and includes additional images. Dante’s View, Death Valley (1938) is another of Weston’s photographs in the exhibition from this series. -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.