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Lot 286 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, EUROPE
In 1936, there was a single, extraordinary, outdoor 'sitting' when Charis Wilson, Edward Weston's favorite model, accompanied him on an outing to the Oceano shore. She expected only to watch and assist as he continued the great series of dune landscapes, but enchanted by the beach's silence and beauty, took off her clothes and 'went diving down a steep slope.' Weston turned away from his landscape and instead made a series of ten images of Charis on the sand. In this, perhaps his most successful series of nude studies, Weston elimatinates all extraneous detail, including shadows - there is a mere silvery halo around a perfect, virtually translucent body that appears to float over the lightly textured ground. The figure is relaxed, self-contained, unselfconscious and therefore quite extraordinarily sensual.
In 1936, there was a single, extraordinary, outdoor 'sitting' when Charis Wilson, Edward Weston's favorite model, accompanied him on an outing to the Oceano shore. She expected only to watch and assist as he continued the great series of dune landscapes, but enchanted by the beach's silence and beauty, took off her clothes and 'went diving down a steep slope.' Weston turned away from his landscape and instead made a series of ten images of Charis on the sand. In this, perhaps his most successful series of nude studies, Weston elimatinates all extraneous detail, including shadows - there is a mere silvery halo around a perfect, virtually translucent body that appears to float over the lightly textured ground. The figure is relaxed, self-contained, unselfconscious and therefore quite extraordinarily sensual.
Edward Weston (1886-1958)
Nude on Sand, Oceano, 1936
Closed18 October 2007
Price Realised
USD 103,000