The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester brings an artist adept at capturing the intricacies of light out of the shadows himself this weekend.
“Brett Weston (1911-1993) was considered by many to be brilliant, visionary, prodigious and among the most important photographers of the 20th century,” said Karen Tebbenhoff, the Queen City museum’s director of marketing and public relations.
“Yet, his achievements have often been overshadowed by those of his renowned father, Edward. In the first major exhibition in 30 years to be dedicated to Brett’s prolific body of work, ‘Brett Weston: Out of the Shadow’ concentrates on the photographer’s distinct creative spirit.”
On view at the Currier from Saturday, Oct. 17, through Sunday, Jan. 3, this exhibition illustrates how Weston captured the magic of black-and-white prints through more than 100 photographs from the 1920s through the 1980s.
“Out of the Shadow” focuses attention on Weston’s abstract photographs of landscapes, shapes, textures and architectural elements. A pioneer in his field, Weston captured the rhythms of form, light and shadow, while avoiding photographic techniques, such as contrived lighting, staging or other manipulation, show officials said. Aside from two series taken in San Francisco in the 1930s and New York in the 1940s, and abstract images of painted walls, broken glass and cars, Weston focused on aspects of the natural world, in both close-ups and broad views.
“Although all of his photographs seem to have been taken outdoors, Weston did not consider himself a nature photographer,” Tebbenhoff said. “Many of his most beautiful and accomplished images are associated with water — beads of moisture, bubbles, clouds, ice, ocean, puddles, underwater nudes, wet kelp, wet stones. His sensual black-and-white images transformed quiet moments into powerful statements of bold abstractions.” Born in Los Angeles, Weston left California at 13 to live with his father, Edward, in Mexico, taking his first picture on the boat ride south. In Mexico he learned form and composition from his father while using his portrait camera. Edward commented in his daybook, “He is doing better work at 14 than I did at 30. To have someone close to me, working so excellently, with an assured future, is happiness hardly expected.” Brett Weston received international recognition for his work at 17, when 20 of his photographs appeared in the exhibition “Film und Foto” (1929), along with work by Edward Steichen, Berenice Abbott and Man Ray. In 1947, he was awarded a Guggenheim grant to photograph East Coast landscapes.
For more information about the Currier Museum of Art, visit www.currier.org or call 669-6144, ext. 108.
