Artwork Page for Dunes, Oceano

Details / Information for Dunes, Oceano

Dunes, Oceano

1936

Edward Weston

(American, 1886–1958)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print
Measurements
Image: 19.1 x 24.1 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.); Mounted: 33.4 x 40.6 cm (13 1/8 x 16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 55.9 cm (18 x 22 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2001.92
Copyright
© Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Edward Weston’s views of the dunes near Oceano, California, were a definitive break from earlier, more narrative depictions of Western landscapes.

Description

Weston's images hover between representation, abstraction, and metaphor. His sharply focused view of this natural phenomenon becomes a rhythmic design of darks and lights, gentle curves, and crisp edges. The hills of sand echo the waves of the sea, visible at the top of the picture, and engulf the viewer in their sensuous undulations.
A horizontally oriented black-and-white photograph features undulating sand dunes. A massive, dark shadow occupies the center, contrasted by sharp crests catching brilliant light. Fine, parallel ripples texture the sand in the foreground. The landscape's layered shapes recede toward a narrow horizon where the dark ocean meets the sky, creating a rhythmic flow from the deep black center to glowing white ridges that carve horizontal waves across the expanse.

Dunes, Oceano

1936

Edward Weston

(American, 1886–1958)
America

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