Live Auction 12626Modern Visions: Exceptional Photographs
Edward Weston (1886-1958)
Lot 31

Edward Weston (1886-1958)

Badwater, Death Valley, 1938

Closed18 February 2016

Price Realised

USD 56,250

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Edward Weston (1886-1958)
Badwater, Death Valley, 1938
gelatin silver print, mounted on original board
signed and dated in pencil (mount, recto); titled, numbered 'DV-Mi-24G', '38', and '17' in pencil (mount, verso)
image/sheet: 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (19.1 x 24.2 cm.)
mount: 14 1/4 x 15 1/2 in. (37.7 x 40 cm.)

Sotheby's, New York, April 6, 2011, lot 16;
Acquired at the above sale through agent.

Specialist note

Charis Wilson, at this time Weston's lover and companion during his travels supported by the Guggenheim Fellowship, describes the scene in this photograph: 'near hill, devilsgolfcoursy flat, snowy panamints and cirrus clouds right side up and up side down well matched. Edward says its not particularly exciting but its amusing'.
(Charis Wilson, Journal of the Guggenheim Year[s] 1937-1938, The Huntington, San Marino, p. 376, as quoted by Conger in Edward Weston: Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography)