Lot Essay
In April 1923, before leaving for Mexico, Weston made a series of nudes of Margrethe Mather. This series marks both the beginning of a new phase in Weston's development of subject and aesthetic while at the same time closes the pictorialist chapter of his work. Turning his camera to Margrethe on the sand much as he would later see Charis in the dunes, Weston presents her as a modern, unadorned form.
After settling in Mexico, Weston wrote about the series, "Last evening, Diego Rivera visited the exhibit [Aztec Land]. Nothing pleased me more than Rivera's enthusiasm. Not voluble emotion, but a quiet, keen enjoyment, pausing long before several of my prints, the ones which I know are my best. Looking at the sand in one of my beach nudes, a torso of Margrethe, he said, 'This is what some of us 'moderns' were trying to do when we sprinkled real sand on our paintings or stuck on pieces of lace or paper or other bits of realism.'" (Daybooks I, p. 26.)
After settling in Mexico, Weston wrote about the series, "Last evening, Diego Rivera visited the exhibit [Aztec Land]. Nothing pleased me more than Rivera's enthusiasm. Not voluble emotion, but a quiet, keen enjoyment, pausing long before several of my prints, the ones which I know are my best. Looking at the sand in one of my beach nudes, a torso of Margrethe, he said, 'This is what some of us 'moderns' were trying to do when we sprinkled real sand on our paintings or stuck on pieces of lace or paper or other bits of realism.'" (Daybooks I, p. 26.)