From 15 October 2025 to 25 January 2026, the MEP is proud to present Edward Weston — Becoming Modern, an exceptional insight into the birth of modernist photography through the gaze and practice of the famous American photographer.
MEP – Maison Européenne de la Photographie
5/7 rue de Fourcy
75004 Paris
Drawn entirely from the prestigious collection of the Wilson Centre for Photography, the exhibition traces a decisive turning point in the history of photography. It highlights Weston’s radical shift from a refined, pictorialist style inspired by the codes of painting to a pared-down, precise, and direct modernist aesthetic.
It was during this period that the photographer refined his style, simplifying his framing, eliminating any artifice to focus on lines, shapes, and light. He photographed ordinary objects–shells, vegetables, bodies, stones–with great formal rigour, transforming reality into visual motifs.
Through more than one hundred vintage prints, this unique exhibition brings together iconic works that have rarely, if ever, been shown in Paris. Alongside Weston’s masterpieces are major works in the pictorialist style by Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and Anne Brigman, among others, offering a rich and unique perspective on two major conceptions of photography.
Weston contributed to this modern perspective on the periphery of the art world. He lived and worked in California, travelling to Mexico and distancing himself from the centres of power and influence. He sought neither effect nor provocation, but rather an accurate view, a form of silent revelation.
Exploring the richness of Weston’s work–from nudes to still lifes, landscapes and intimate portraits of his close collaborators, such as Tina Modotti–the MEP pays tribute to a major figure of modernist photography. Many of his most iconic images are exhibited in their original form, hand-printed by the artist himself.
Based on an original idea by Michael G. Wilson, the exhibition is co-curated by Simon Baker and Laurie Hurwitz (MEP), with Polly Fleury and Hope Kingsley of the Wilson Centre for Photography.
Edward Weston, Heaped Blacks Ollas, 1926 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
Edward Weston, Shells, 1927 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
Edward Weston, Nude on Sand, Oceano, 1936 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
Edward Weston, Eggs and Slicer, 1930 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
Edward Weston, Tina Modotti (Nude in Studio), 1922 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
Edward Weston, Sandstone Eosion, Point Lobos, 1942 © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Edward Weston, Adagp, Paris, 2025 Courtesy Wilson Centre for Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment