Roberta McGrath: Re-reading Edward Weston; Feminism, Photography and Psychoanalysis. From Course Reader, Liz Wells.

Roberta McGrath lectures on photography theory and criticism at Napier University, Edinburgh.  Previous publications include Seeing Her Sex: Medical Archives and the female body (2002).

In this essay Roberta McGrath begins by introducing Edward Weston as a photographer who emerged from the earlier Pictorialist era into the new Modernist era of photographer.  She says that he is unusual in that his work has been dominated by his own writing. She then immediately moves on to talk at length about feminist issues in the art world, suggesting that men cannot possibly view art (the female form) without sexual connotations.  She doesn't mention how women view the male form, perhaps they are better at maintaining a dispassionate eye than men!  She also moves on to discuss Marxism and feminism before eventually coming back to Edward Weston.  When describing photography itself she says that 'taking' a photograph has sexual connotations and suggests that the verb 'to take' is slang for carnal knowledge. I think she is referring here to Weston's photography of nudes but surely every person who has a camera and 'takes' a photography does not have a sexual predatory intent upon the subject.  She next goes on to say that the camera itself can become an object of love and a fetish, again with reference to Weston, bu,t I feel, including all male photographers.  There follows a discussion on castration and she infers that Weston fears the loss of his camera as much as castration.  She links photography to voyeurism and fetishism.  McGrath goes on to talk about the Group f64.  This group included not only Edward Weston, but also photographers such as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Willard Van-dyke, and they believed that photographs should be sharp from the nearest foreground to the far distance and this could be achieved by using the smallest aperture at the time, :f64.  To get the most out of these sharp negatives they felt that they should be printed on smooth glossy paper.  McGrath latches onto both of these principles and ascribes to them sexual meaning, again with particular reference to Edward Weston, but not, noticeably, Imogen Cunningham.

I chose to read this essay after having read the earlier on in the course reader by Edward Weston himself on Seeing Photographically.   I wonder if I am missing something in it though; it just seems to me to be a feminist tirade on photography and the male attitude to women with particular reference to Edward Weston.  Weston was undoubtedly a womaniser but his family certainly saw in him more than that:

He was a complex man. Often portrayed as a philanderer, a consummate Don Juan with a camera, he was much deeper and caring: a respectful son, a caring brother, a loving husband. A doting, proud, and engaging father, the real Edward Weston was a man whose philosophy of life, art, and love were inseparable. His world, often overly egocentric, was one built in passion, enthusiasm, and love. Kim Weston (2014)

Many, many other men have been and, are, womanisers but are not photographers and many, many photographers are neither womanisers nor men so I fail to see the connection between feminism, predatory men (because I am sure this is how McGrath sees Weston) and photography.  Surely not all males with a smart phone or digital compact are  womanisers, voyeurs or fetishists.

1

2

Reference

Weston, K (2014) Edward Weston-The Lover-Tina Modotti and Charis Wilson [online]. Weston Photography. Available from: http://www.kimweston.com/edward-weston/edward-weston-the-lover-tina-modotti-charis-wilson/ [Accessed 25.4.14]

Images

1.  Weston, E. ((1937) Nude, New Mexico, [photograh] [online image] Available from: http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Nude--New-Mexico/8E8503E45BCE6EB5 [Accessed 25.4.14]

2. Weston, E. (1930) Pepper No. 30. [Photograph] [online image]. Available from: http://artdurkee.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/edward-weston-philosophy-of-photography.html [Accessed 25.4.14]