Untitled (White Sands, New Mexico), 1945
Brett Weston (American, 1911 - 1933)
gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Gift of Erica Weston, 2000
2000.43.1
Brett Weston was born in 1911 in Los Angeles, California, the second son of famous photographer Edward Weston. At the age of 14, his family moved to Mexico where he became his father’s apprentice and met the contemporary painters Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, and photographers such as Tina Modotti, who influenced his early sense of form and composition. Weston’s father once observed that young Weston was doing better work at the age of 14 than he had done at the age of 30 years old. Brett Weston returned to California in 1926 and continued to assist his father; his first solo exhibition was held in 1927. This was the beginning of a long and highly successful career dedicated to the art of photography, creating a body of work and a contribution to the medium that has few equals.