Brett Weston - White Sands
Brett Weston - White Sands
Volume 2 in the Portfolios of Brett Weston series
Introduction by Nancy Newhall
Afterword by Roger Aikin
The original White Sands portfolio, produced in 1949, contained twelve photographs and was printed in an edition of fifty. In 1975 Weston printed a second edition of the portfolio in an edition of seventeen. It included eight of the original ten photographs made in the 1940s (negatives from two of the photographs in the original portfolio were damaged and unprintable), two others from the 1940s that had not been included in the first portfolio (Plates 11 and 12), and two from 1975 (Plates 13 and 14), for a total of twelve prints.
White Sands contains the original ten photographs plus the four new pictures from Weston's 1975 edition. The original 1949 title page and the introduction by Nancy Newhall are reproduced in facsimile. Included is an afterword by art historian Roger Aikin. As a bonus, we have included an additional photograph along with a facsimile reproduction of Brett's letter describing the picture as "Edward's favorite." Although it was not included in either of the original portfolios, Brett included it as a gift with the portfolio from which this book has been reproduced.
15 reproductions, 56 pages
12 1/2" x 12 1/2"
THE PORTFOLIOS OF BRETT WESTON
A NINETEEN-VOLUME SERIES
Between 1939 and 1980 Brett Weston produced eighteen limited edition portfolios of original photographs. He believed passionately in the power of his original prints and chose the portfolio as the way to reach an expanded audience while still maintaining control over image quality. Today, Weston's original portfolios are rare, expensive, and relatively inaccessible in museums, archives, libraries, or private collections. Many of the photographs in these new books have never before been reproduced. Published in a hardbound edition limited to 250 numbered copies. The softbound edition is limited to 1000 copies, and books are available individually or by subscription.
Printing technology now makes it possible, however, to bring the Brett Weston portfolios to a larger audience in reproductions that, in their rich detail, tonal scale and color, surface quality, and aesthetic appeal, are almost indistinguishable from the original prints. Printed in Belgium by Salto in 600-line screen quadtone on heavy coated stock, the photographs have been reproduced actual size whenever possible.
To recreate the feeling of the original portfolios, great care has been taken not only with the reproduction of the photographs, but with every aspect of these books. Where there is text in the portfolios, it is reproduced in facsimile, and the color of each book's cover has been selected to match the covers of the original portfolio cases.
The art historian Roger Aikin, a close friend of Brett's, has provided an introductory essay for each book in the series, writing that sets the photographs in the context of Weston's life and career. Dr. Aikin's critical analysis comparing the photographs of Brett and those of his father, published in 1973, remains the finest analysis of its type we have ever seen.