Edward Weston
1886-1958Bertha, Glendale, 1927
Signed and titled ‘Nude’. Dated by Cole Weston, the photographer’s son, in pencil and Edward Weston signature stamp on the reverse of the mount.
Silver Gelatin Print
18,2 x 20,9 cm
Printed later by Cole Weston 'I wish you would not do so many nudes… most of these are just nudes.' commented Canadian painter Henrieatta Shore on Weston’s series, “Bertha Glendale”...
Printed later by Cole Weston
"I wish you would not do so many nudes… most of these are just nudes." commented Canadian painter Henrieatta Shore on Weston’s series, “Bertha Glendale” which included Nude, Dancer’s Knees. Though seemingly antagonistic toward Weston’s nudes, Shore’s comment pushed Weston to photograph other subjects thereby preserving the uniqueness and authenticity of the nude works he had already finished.
Nude, Dancer’s Knees is one of Weston's most well-known nude figure studies. Cut off at the shoulders this photograph of dancer Bertha Wardell’s kneeling body demonstrates a characteristic feature of this series: deliberate exclusion of the face. This served to make the body more significant and vivid. All the expressions and gazes that the face bares and reflects are erased so that only the pure body in full performance is witnessed. This body is rough, present and neither male nor female.
Weston eloquently brings the naked body, naked wall and the naked floor onto the same plane so that the nudity become ubiquitous. Thanks to its clear, even accentuated contour lines, the body distinguishes itself from the wall and the floor, but in such a way that it appears as only an extension of them both; seemingly as concrete and emotionally neutral as they are.
© Cigdem Mirol
"I wish you would not do so many nudes… most of these are just nudes." commented Canadian painter Henrieatta Shore on Weston’s series, “Bertha Glendale” which included Nude, Dancer’s Knees. Though seemingly antagonistic toward Weston’s nudes, Shore’s comment pushed Weston to photograph other subjects thereby preserving the uniqueness and authenticity of the nude works he had already finished.
Nude, Dancer’s Knees is one of Weston's most well-known nude figure studies. Cut off at the shoulders this photograph of dancer Bertha Wardell’s kneeling body demonstrates a characteristic feature of this series: deliberate exclusion of the face. This served to make the body more significant and vivid. All the expressions and gazes that the face bares and reflects are erased so that only the pure body in full performance is witnessed. This body is rough, present and neither male nor female.
Weston eloquently brings the naked body, naked wall and the naked floor onto the same plane so that the nudity become ubiquitous. Thanks to its clear, even accentuated contour lines, the body distinguishes itself from the wall and the floor, but in such a way that it appears as only an extension of them both; seemingly as concrete and emotionally neutral as they are.
© Cigdem Mirol
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