Edward Weston (Highland Park, Illinois 1886–1958 Carmel, California), Tina Reciting, 1924 (printed later), Gelatin silver print, 15in x 12.25in, Given in memory of Sarah Kane Brown Pierce (Class of 1980) by her sister, Allison Faircloth Brown (Class of 1973) 2018.174

Born in Highland Park, IL, in 1886, Edward Weston began to pursue photography at sixteen. Weston frequently photographed human figures, exploring themes of the body and sexuality throughout his work. At the start of his career he worked for a commercial portrait studio in Los Angeles, and later established his own portrait studio. He was incredibly accomplished: between 1913 and 1916 Weston received a total of thirty awards. At the end of 1916, Weston visited Alfred Stieglitz in New York. It was a pivotal trip for Weston, who realized that he needed evolve his style as an artist if he wanted to remain successful. He began to photograph landscapes and cityscapes, and learned how to isolate the subject of the photo to best effect. Feeling he would be unable to expand his practice if he remained on the West Coast, he relocated to Mexico in 1923 with his lover, Tina Modotti. One of his favorite models, Modotti—who he met in 1919—was a photographer in her own right, and documented the Mexican Renaissance in the 1920s. This photographic portrait of Tina was taken a year after the move to Mexico and was part of a series; Weston took 36 negatives of Modotti reciting poetry. The Davis Museum recently received this photograph as a generous gift from Allison Faircloth Brown (Class of ’73) in memory of her sister, Sarah Kane Brown Pierce (Class of ’80).