The Daybooks of Edward Weston; Two Volumes in One: I. Mexico, II. California (Aperture, 2nd ed. 1991)

For more than fifteen years, Edward Weston kept a diary in which he recorded his struggle to understand himself, his society, and his medium. Seldom has an artist written about his life as vividly, intimately, or sensitively. His journal has become a classic of photographic literature. A towering figure in twentieth-century photography, Weston sought to awaken human vision. His restless quest for beauty and the mystical presence behind it created a body of work unrivaled in the medium. Front Cover 1 Title Page 5 Contents 7 List Of Plates 10 Preface by Michael E. Hoffman 13 Foreword by Beaumont Newhall 15 Introduction by Nancy Newhall 17 Introductory Note by Edward Weston 26 I. - MEXICO 27 PART - 1 - Fragments from Early Daybooks 29 1. Boy and Camera. Undated 31 2. "Notes from N.Y. Nov. 1922" 32 3. Discussion on Definition, April 1923 45 PART - II. - Mexico, August 1923-December, 1924 47 1. "Romantic Mexico" 49 2. "Heroic Heads" 66 3. The Thing Itself 98 4. Landscapes and Still Lifes 131 PART - III. - California, January-August 1925 163 1. "I felt Myself a Foreigner" 165 2. Letters to Tina 167 PART - IV. - Mexico, August 1925--November 1926 175 1. "Life Through My Camera" 177 2. "Mexico Breaks One's Heart" 214 3. "The Beginning of a New Art" 248 II. - CALIFORNIA 263 PART - I - Glendale, January 1927-July 1928 265 1. Return to the Past 267 2. The Chambered Nautilus and the Dancing Nude 274 3. Subject Matter and Life Today 288 4. The Shells in Mexico: Letters from Tina Modotti 295 5. "Finely Moving Rhythms" 301 6. "My only reason for existence--" 306 7. The Desert 321 PART - II - San Francisco, August--December, 1928 339 1. The Skylight 341 2. "Now that I stand almost alone--" 350 3. Weary of Cities 367 PART - III - Carmel, January, 1929--December, 1934 377 1. "This new life" 379 2. "Point Lobos! I saw it with different eyes--" 386 3. Robinson Jeffers 403 4. "Peppers, my wonder and vision increasing--" 408 5. "So that the buckeye isn't one--" 416 6. "High praise...I work all the harder--" 420 7. "How little subject matter counts in the ultimate reaction!" 426 8. "The stark beauty a lens can so exactly render--" 427 9. "The flame of recognition--" 431 10. "Unretouched portraits" 447 11. "Composition is a way of seeing--" 450 12. Jose Clemente Orozco 457 13. "Reality makes him dream--" 477 14. "I am the adventurer on a voyage of discovery--" 494 15. "Things seen into things known" 509 16. Transition--"a way I have been seeing lately--" 514 17. "Nature, the great stimulus--" 527 18. East Coast vs. West Coast--"Theatrical?" 538 19. The Mass and the Individual 552 20. "A book on my work--" 559 21. Group f/64 560 22. "End of a period--" 565 23. Landscapes--"the heavens and earth become one--" 571 24. "Peace to enjoy, fulfill, this beauty--" 579 PART - IV - Carmel, April, 22, 1944 581 "Ten years--" 583 Glossary of Mexican Words and Phrases 585 Edward Weston's Technique 587 Acknowledgments 590 Selected Bibliography 591 Index 593 Back Cover 612 Volumes 1 and 2 of the American photographer Edward Weston's daybooks in which he writes about his life and art; outlines his hopes and ambitions; catalogues his many love affairs; and criticizes his own work. This is a new edition which combines "Mexico" and "California".