mounted, initialed and dated in pencil on the mount, signed, dated, and numbered 'PO39-CH-1' in pencil on the reverse, 1939 

Gift of Edward Weston to Glen Fishback, close friend and fellow photographer, as a present for Fishback’s newborn son, his namesake, Kurt Edward Fishback, 1942

Acquir🌼ed by the present owner from Kurt Edward Fi𒊎shback

Conger 1473

Nancy Newhall, ed., The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Vol. II California (Aperture, 1973), pl. 24

Manfred Heiting, ed., Edward Weston (Köln, 2004), p. 219

This early print, with an exceptional tonal range and crisp detail, is in generally excellent condition. Upon very close examination, a few extremely superficial hairline scratches are barely discernible in the center-left. The mount is age-appropriately faintly darkened at the edges and there is minimal evidence of soiling. The reverse of the mount exhibits slight soiling and there is a thin rust-colored adhesive remnant along the extreme upper edge with accompanying abrasion. Edward Weston authority Amy Conger locates 6 prints in public collections and one Project Print in the Special Collection of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Jean Charlot, a French painter and illustrator who spent a long period of his life in Mexico, was a close friend of Edward Weston.  He is mentioned several times in Weston’s Daybooks beginning in the early 1920s, and the two artists maintained a friendship throughout their lives.

Charlot met ꦗartist Zohmah Day (born Dorothy Day) in Mexico and they were married on 26 May 1939.  The present  photograph was taken about a month later in Point Lobos, California.  Although Weston photographed the couple on several occasions, this image is particularly sensitive and technically advanced.  The dramatic splashing surf in the background exhibits just as much detail as the texture and tone of the rock surface in the foreground. 

A variant of this image was the only photograph that Weston submitted to Edward Steichen’s groundbreaking 1955 exhibition Family of Man at The Museum of Modern Art, which traveled globally in five different iterations for seven yea🧔rs.

At the time of 𓄧this writing, it is believed that only one other print of this image has appeared at auction, sold in these rooms in November 1985 (Sale 5383, Lot 3🌱80).