25

Edward Weston

1886-1958

Portraits of Enrique (Enrica) Jackson

Nine gelatin silver prints on paper
Each signed in ink in either an upper or lower corner of the image: Weston
(9 pieces)
Image/Sheet of Smallest: 6.375" H x 4" W; Image/Sheet of Largest: 6.75" H x 4.75" W

  • Provenance: The Estate of Dr. Amy Conger
  • Literature: Amy Conger, "Edward Weston's Early Photography," Ph.D. diss. (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1982), figs. 16/22, 16/24, 16/25, 16/26, 16/27, 16/28, 16/29, 16/30, 16/31.
  • Notes: This lot is comprised of the following images:
    "Enrica with Arms Akimbo"
    "Enrica with a Black Cross, Looking Up"
    "Enrica with a Black Cross, Looking Sideways"
    "Enrica with Her Hand Against the Wall"
    "Enrica with Shoulders Relaxed"
    "Enrica with Fan, Looking Down"
    "Enrica with a Fan Looking Up"
    "Enrica, Wearing a Hat"
    "Enrica, Wearing a White Collar"

    "Enrica Jackson (b. 1888) more or less replaced Rae Davis in Weston's studio when she left to marry in 1916. Enrica and her sister Marie had come from Kansas to California in 1906 after the earthquake. Enrica soon obtained work as a retoucher in the Mojonnier Studio which was then located in the Auditorium Building in Los Angeles. Within a little while, Weston also obtained employment there as a camera man and printer, according to Enrica. Like Rae Davis, Enrica also became a photographer. She did not recall exactly how long she worked in his studio, but there are portraits of her by him done in 1916 (Figs. 16/22-31) and 1919 (Fig. 19/8)." Conger diss. 190.

    "The June 1916 issue of the Camera featured an unusually comprehensive visual summary of Weston's recent accomplishments. Seven images received full-page illustrations, including two of dancer Violet Romer and one each of dancers Ted Shawn and Maud Allan. A fifth portrayed Weston's loyal assistant, Rae Davis, who had recently left Weston's employ to marry, while the remaining two were portraits of the woman who had replaced her, Enrica (or Enrique) Jackson.

    A former colleague from Weston's Mojonier Studio days, Jackson was an attractive, dark-haired woman with a flair for modeling. Weston enjoyed having a beautiful new assistant, and he proceeded to make a number of portraits of her, many of which he sent to publications and salons. Several of Weston's published portraits of Jackson, which began appearing in various camera magazines in mid-1916, are very similar to photographs he took of Margrethe Mather during that same time period. A portrait of Mather that appeared in the July 1916 issue of the "Camera," in which she stands, hands on hips, head cocked to one side, is almost identical to one of Jackson reproduced in the same publication a month earlier.

    Oddly, Jackson would later claim to have no memory of Margrethe Mather. While it seems almost impossible that the two women could have remained strangers, given that Mather was very much a part of Weston's life, and in and out of his studio with regularity during the months Jackson worked for him, Weston would prove remarkably successful at compartmentalizing his personal relationships, especially those he enjoyed with the opposite sex. Perhaps he feared he might reveal too much about his feelings for Mather in Jackson's presence, and, if so, Jackson's failure to recall Mather may have been due to Weston's concerted efforts to keep them apart.

    In the summer of 1916, Antony Anderson unexpectedly devoted an entire column to a description of his recent visit to one of the Camera Pictorialists' monthly meetings. Anderson's article offered insight into the groups' workings and explained his growing interest in their cause. Once again Anderson mistakenly identified Weston as the organization's leader."

    - from Beth Gates Warren, "Artful Lives: Edward Weston, Margrethe Mather, and the Bohemians of Los Angeles" (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011), 90.
  • Condition: Each overall good condition. Secured to the back mat with clear archival corners. One of nine examined out of the frame.

    Each framed under glass: 15.75" H x 14" W x 1" D


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December 6, 2023 10:00 AM PST
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