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Brett Weston: Photographs from Five Decades
Brett Weston (1911-1993) was generally acknowledged as one of the finest printers in his time.
In this monograph, the plates of Weston's pictures are reproduced virtually to facsimile quality. Among the selections from the artist's life-work are brilliant, sometimes brooding studies of natural formations and still-lifes as well as man-made landscapes.
A gorgeous production. Cloth-bound hardback in dust jacket. 131 pages; 100 b&w photographic plates; 12 x 14 inches. Includes a list of plates, a chronology, a bibliography and an exhibition history.
In this monograph, the plates of Weston's pictures are reproduced virtually to facsimile quality. Among the selections from the artist's life-work are brilliant, sometimes brooding studies of natural formations and still-lifes as well as man-made landscapes.
A gorgeous production. Cloth-bound hardback in dust jacket. 131 pages; 100 b&w photographic plates; 12 x 14 inches. Includes a list of plates, a chronology, a bibliography and an exhibition history.
- GenresPhotography
131 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1980
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 29, 2020
This is a wonderful book, and possibly my recommendation as the best introduction to Brett, though not the best book overall.
The Good: This book gives a pretty good seven page written profile of Brett and his life (up to 1980), as well as an interesting chronology at the back; the selection of photos is striking; the reproductions might be the largest you'll find; and if you're patient this book can sometimes be found in the $25-35 range, which is pretty reasonable compared to typical prices for the other comparable BW books.
The Bad: The reproductions here are a little strange. Viewed alone, I think this book's photos look impressive for the most part. If I'm being picky, I notice that some of the midtones, such as medium grey rocks and sand, or certain areas of skin tones, have a funky lack of contrast and tonality that gives them almost a slightly solarized look. It's not super obvious, but it's there in my copy when I examine the rocks of the desert landscapes, the sand on Garrapata Beach, or the skin of the underwater nudes.
Noticing the strange quality of the reproductions, I did a comparison of a few photos I have available in other books, and closely compared seven different reproductions of Mendenhall Glacier. This book's images are generally a little contrastier and more impressive looking than the ones in Voyage of the Eye (1975 or 1992 hardcovers), but they're more similar than different and of more or less comparable quality, though this book is much larger. Master Photographer's reproductions are clearly superior, with clearer details and tonality, and without the strangeness in midtones—I think direct comparison shows why MP costs what it does and why it's sometimes considered the best single BW book. But to my surprise, Personal Selection was the one that stood out for its fine quality, with a version of Mendenhall that I'd call clearly superior to MP, and it makes the others look a little soft and sloppy in comparison. Out of the Shadow has generally good reproductions, with some perhaps being better than this book, though its Mendenhall is similar. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the version of Mendenhall in the Lodima portfolio of prints for students was one of the less impressive, especially compared to PS, but it must be noted that for whatever reason this portfolio's reproductions don't seem up to the quality of the others. If I had another Lodima book with this photo in it, I'd expect it to at least be similar to the one in Personal Selection.
Also worth noting, but barely, is that while this is a Large, impressive, well produced book, both copies I've seen had some internal binding deterioration, even though one of them appeared in new condition externally, so it should probably be treated as a little more fragile than it appears.
But, overall? Again, this book is very large, has larger reproductions than the other BW books its size, the text is interesting, the selection of photos is very good, it can be found in a lower price range than the comparable books (MP & PS), and the reproduction quality is mostly solid if you're not comparing closely. It's impressive and worth having, and makes a greater impact than the more affordable Voyage of the Eye, though that's also good. While this book has some Very Minor imperfections and isn't the absolute best BW book, I don't hesitate to give it five stars.
Price aside? This book is good, but Master Photographer and Personal Selection are the superior coffee-table/large-format overviews of Brett, at least as far as photo quality. Their reproductions are smaller though.
The Good: This book gives a pretty good seven page written profile of Brett and his life (up to 1980), as well as an interesting chronology at the back; the selection of photos is striking; the reproductions might be the largest you'll find; and if you're patient this book can sometimes be found in the $25-35 range, which is pretty reasonable compared to typical prices for the other comparable BW books.
The Bad: The reproductions here are a little strange. Viewed alone, I think this book's photos look impressive for the most part. If I'm being picky, I notice that some of the midtones, such as medium grey rocks and sand, or certain areas of skin tones, have a funky lack of contrast and tonality that gives them almost a slightly solarized look. It's not super obvious, but it's there in my copy when I examine the rocks of the desert landscapes, the sand on Garrapata Beach, or the skin of the underwater nudes.
Noticing the strange quality of the reproductions, I did a comparison of a few photos I have available in other books, and closely compared seven different reproductions of Mendenhall Glacier. This book's images are generally a little contrastier and more impressive looking than the ones in Voyage of the Eye (1975 or 1992 hardcovers), but they're more similar than different and of more or less comparable quality, though this book is much larger. Master Photographer's reproductions are clearly superior, with clearer details and tonality, and without the strangeness in midtones—I think direct comparison shows why MP costs what it does and why it's sometimes considered the best single BW book. But to my surprise, Personal Selection was the one that stood out for its fine quality, with a version of Mendenhall that I'd call clearly superior to MP, and it makes the others look a little soft and sloppy in comparison. Out of the Shadow has generally good reproductions, with some perhaps being better than this book, though its Mendenhall is similar. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the version of Mendenhall in the Lodima portfolio of prints for students was one of the less impressive, especially compared to PS, but it must be noted that for whatever reason this portfolio's reproductions don't seem up to the quality of the others. If I had another Lodima book with this photo in it, I'd expect it to at least be similar to the one in Personal Selection.
Also worth noting, but barely, is that while this is a Large, impressive, well produced book, both copies I've seen had some internal binding deterioration, even though one of them appeared in new condition externally, so it should probably be treated as a little more fragile than it appears.
But, overall? Again, this book is very large, has larger reproductions than the other BW books its size, the text is interesting, the selection of photos is very good, it can be found in a lower price range than the comparable books (MP & PS), and the reproduction quality is mostly solid if you're not comparing closely. It's impressive and worth having, and makes a greater impact than the more affordable Voyage of the Eye, though that's also good. While this book has some Very Minor imperfections and isn't the absolute best BW book, I don't hesitate to give it five stars.
Price aside? This book is good, but Master Photographer and Personal Selection are the superior coffee-table/large-format overviews of Brett, at least as far as photo quality. Their reproductions are smaller though.
January 31, 2010
Gorgeous printing job in this large format Aperture Monograph. These 125 pages or so of photographs provide perfect overview of his work and the profile is very revealing of his personality and motivations as well.
July 13, 2010
Another stunning collection of Brett Weston's work in black and white photography. As a group, my favorite photographs were the ones with trees in them.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews