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Dimensions: measurements note 7½ by 9½ in. (19.1 by 24.1 cm.)
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Provenance: The photographer to Brett Weston, his sonAcquired by Gerry Sharpe from the above, 1963Acquired by Virginia and Ansel Adams from the aboveBy descent to the present owners
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Literature: 'The Photography of Edward Weston,' Touring Topics, June 1930
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Notes: The photograph offered here, a rhythmic arrangement of leeks in a row, is a scarce image from Edward Weston's series of iconic still-life studies of vegetables and shells. Made in 1927, Leeks dates to the very beginning of his work with this subject matter. Like other images Weston made that year--including his most famous nautilus shell studies, his first pepper study, and his images of chard--Leeks shows the photographer's intense concentration upon the form of his subjects. In these still life studies, Weston frequently experimented with backgrounds of differing texture and tonality, and in Leeks he has used rough wooden shingles whose vertical grain echoes that of the leeks. The intersecting patterns of their leaves is reminiscent of the woven grass toys, baskets, and mats Weston photographed in Mexico earlier in the 1920s. This photograph was originally acquired from Edward Weston by his son, the photographer Brett Weston. Brett, in turn, gave it to the young photographer Geraldine 'Gerry' Sharpe in 1963. The photograph was later acquired from Sharpe by Ansel and Virginia Adams. Sharpe had worked for the Adamses, at Best's Studio with Virginia in the 1950s, and as Ansel's occasional assistant in the late 1950s and '60s. Today Sharpe is perhaps best known as the subject of Adams's photograph, Gerry Sharpe, Ouray, Colorado, which he included in his final portfolio, Portfolio VII, published in 1976. The Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, does not own a print of this image. As of this writing, the print offered here is only the second print of Leeks to appear at auction. The other, an unmounted print reproduced in Touring Topics magazine, was offered in these rooms on 7 April 1995 (Sale 6684, Lot 39) and is now in the collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg.
