Brett Weston's Smokestacks and Pylons, 1927

(Click on images to enlarge)

Weston, Brett, "Stacks," 1927, gelatin silver print, 3-7/8 x 3 in. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. From Brett Weston Photographs: 1925-1930 and 1980-1982, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1983, p. 7.

While researching for my upcoming book "The Schindlers and the Westons: An Avant-Garde Friendship" I have run across numerous publications of Brett Weston's industrial image "Stacks." To this day the striking image is often inaccurately credited to his father due to the similarities with Edward's 1922 ARMCO Steel images (see below for example). Brett's intriguing 1927 photo was made at the tender age of 16 and was obviously inspired by Edward's earlier work. I recently discovered that the location of these smokestacks appears to have been the Alameda Steam Generating Plant at Alameda and Banning Sts. in San Pedro (see two below). Weston referenced taking photographs at an iron foundry in his December 7, 1927 Daybooks entry which he could have mistaken the factory for.

Weston, Edward, ARMCO Steel, 1922. © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.

Alameda Steam Generating Plant, Alameda and Banning Sts., San Pedro, 1930s. Photographer unknown. From Water and Power Associates.

Alameda Steam Generating Plant, Alameda and Banning Sts., San Pedro, 1930s. Photographer unknown. From Water and Power Associates.

"Factory Pipes," ca. 1927, Johan Hagemeyer. Courtesy UC-Berkeley, Bancroft Library.

In mid-January 1928 Johan Hagemeyer visited Weston for the first time since his return from Mexico a year earlier. Johan's above image was apparently taken at the same location as Brett's photo evidencing his indelible memory of Edward's ARMCO work discussed later below. Hagemeyer also undoubtedly viewed Brett's and Edward's recent work during his five-day visit. Thus Johan and Brett almost certainly visited and photographed this site together during his stay. (Daybooks, January 15, 1928). Brett's striking multiple exposure composition favorably compares with Johan's, clearly illustrating his rapid artistic progress. I have found no record to date of Johan's image having been exhibited or published.

Although Edward's "Pipes and Stacks" (see below) was included in an exhibition of 102 of his prints, Brett's "Stacks" was not among the 18 prints he selected for their group show at the Los Angeles Museum in Exposition Park in October of 1927. This seemingly indicates that he had not as yet captured the image. ("Park Museum to Display New Art," Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1927, p. 7). The photo was however likely included in a show the following year at UC-Southern Branch arranged by another Schindler-Weston circle intimate Barbara Morgan. (For more on this see my "Foundations of Los Angeles Modernism.")

"Pipes and Stacks," ARMCO Steel, 1922. Edward Weston. © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.

Weston diarized his much looked forward to November 1922 visitation with photographer/gallerist Alfred Stieglitz and subsequent studio visit with painter/photographer Charles Sheeler just weeks after taking his now iconic ARMCO photos (see above) while visiting his sister in Ohio on the way to New York. 

"Treat anything you undertake with dignity, a portrait or a box of matches. If I were [still] publishing Camera Work I would ask you for this breast, these torsoes and these smoke-stacks. ... Stieglitz looking at my steel works photos had said "You should see Sheeler's work," and then in the same breath "No, it is not necessary." But I concluded to go - and I am happy that I did. His photographs are a remarkable "portrait" of New York, the finest architectural photographs I have seen." (Daybooks I, Notes from N. Y. Nov. 1922, p. 6).

On a second visit to Stieglitz's studio Georgia O'Keeffe responded, "These stacks too are very fine, they remind me of the paintings of... (can't remember name) do you know them?" I did not." (Daybooks I, p. 6). 

A few months later Weston chronicled his close friend Johan Hagemeyer's comments, 

"I gave him a print of my "Stacks" - "I have never before demanded a print from you Edward, - but I must have a copy of that" - He would return again and again to it - "It is a thing I wish I had made - but I'm glad you did it for me to enjoy - for I feel I could have done it." (Daybooks I, April 25, 1923, pp. 9-10).

Weston, Edward, "Smokestacks" or "Steel" Irradiador, No. 3, November 1923. Image courtesy of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Jean Charlot Collection.

Edward's and Tina Modotti's rapid immersion into the Mexico City arts scene shortly after their arrival in 1923 soon resulted in his striking "Smokestacks" gracing the cover of Irradiador, the organ for the short-lived Mexican avant-garde Estridentismo Movement whose motto promised, "Will make reactionaries lose sleep, and will affirm all the anxieties of the present hour." (From Letters Alive.). The same image also appeared on the November 19, 1926 cover of Der Welt Spiegel. (Per Weston bibliographer Paula Freedman).

Sheeler, Charles, Power House No. 1 - Ford Plant, 1927. Courtesy the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Lane Collection.

Perhaps with Weston's ARMCO prints still ingrained into his subconscious memory, Sheeler captured some very similar images during an autumn 1927 Ford Motor Company commission to photograph it's new Albert Khan-designed Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan (see above for example). With the launch of the new Model A, automobile production began at "The Rouge" that same year. Sheeler's Rouge commission was part of a $1.3 million advertising campaign to generate excitement and public interest in a new modern automobile and the powerful new plant. Sheeler's Rouge Plant portfolio from this commission clearly provided inspiration to Diego Rivera, Edward and Brett's 1923-26 Mexican sojourn amigo, during the creation of his 1932-3 "Detroit Industry" murals at the Art Institute of Detroit (see below) as Sheeler's Rouge portfolio was in Frida Kahlo's private photo collection. (See Frida Kahlo: Her Photos edited by Pablo Ortiz Moasterio, Editorial RM, 2010, pp. 506-517 for the Sheeler Rouge photos in her private photo collection.). (Author's note: Rivera became deeply entwined in the Weston-Schindler-Neutra-Scheyer circle through his 1923-6 Mexican connections with Weston, his exhibition collaborations with Galka Scheyer and his San Francisco mural connections. Among Rivera's numerous mural assistants on both sides of the border were also many mutual Schindler-Weston friends and lovers. I am planning a future article on this so stay tuned.)

Diego Rivera at work on "Detroit Industry" at the Detroit Institute of Arts, ca. 1932.

Smokestacks, Ford Factory, Detroit, Michigan, 1926. Photo by E. O. Hoppe. From E. O. Hoppe's Amerika, Modernist Photographs from the 1920s by Philip Prodger, Curatorial Assistance and Norton, New York, 2007, p. 111. (Originally published in Hoppe's Romantic America, 1927).

Fascinatingly, the German-born British photographer E. O Hoppe also visited the Rouge Plant in 1926 and photographed the same stacks and conveyors that Sheeler iconized the following year (see above and below). This begs the questions as to whether Hoppe had viewed Weston's previously published ARMCO cover of Der Welt Spiegel and/or whether Sheeler may also have seen Hoppe's work in his Romantic America published in 1927 before undertaking his Rouge commission. It seems likely as thie camera positions for the Rougue smokestacks is almost identical. Rivera had not likely seen Hoppe's work as there were none of his Rouge images in Frida's collection as there were Sheeler's.

Ford Factory, Detroit, Michigan, 1926. Photo by E. O. Hoppe. From E. O. Hoppe's Amerika, Modernist Photographs from the 1920s by Philip Prodger, Curatorial Assistance and Norton, New York, 2007, p. 110. (Originally published in Hoppe's Romantic America, 1927).

Through Edward's contacts with Schindler partner and Kings Road tenant Richard Neutra, a version of Brett's "Stacks" was definitely included along with 18 of his photos and 20 of Edward's in the seminal "Film und Foto" exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany in in May–July 1929. (Brett Weston Photographs: 1925-1930 and 1980-1982, edited by Van Deren Coke, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1983, p. 10).

Willi Ruge poster design. Film und Foto, 1929.

"Film und Foto" was comprised of approximately 1,000 works from Europe, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The traveling exhibition was a seminal avant-garde event in the history of modern photography which Neutra, through his European publishing and Deutscher Werkbund connections, was given responsibility for America's West Coast contributions. Neutra made a friend for life by delegating this task to Weston and providing him, Brett and Weston-Schindler mutual friends Imogen Cunningham and Roger Sturtevant their first significant European exposure. The below exhibition catalogue included an introductory essay to the American section by Edward along with a few of his images and a listing of his and Brett's contributions. (For much more on this see my "Pauline Gibling Schindler: Vagabond Agent for Modernism" (PGS))

Catalogue cover for "Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto, Stuttgart 1929." From Luminous Lint. 

"Focus and Mechanism, Experimental Cinema, June 1930, p. 2.

Perhaps the first publication of Brett's "Stacks" was in the pages of Edward's friend Seymour Stern's Experimental Cinema in the June 1930 issue (see above). This came about through the largess of Edward's erstwhile lover and close family friend Christel Gang who was Stern's secretary, translator and contributor. Brett had only flown the coop from Carmel the previous month and moved in with modernist promoter Pauline Schindler in Frank Lloyd Wright's Storer House where he would set up shop with his first photo studio (see below). (A Restless Eye: A Biography of Photographer Brett Weston by John Charles Woods, Erica Weston Editions, Richmond, MO, 2011, p. 109 and PGS). 

Storer House, 8161 Hollywood Blvd., Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, 1924.

Edward wrote of Brett's inevitable departure, 

"But Brett has grown wings, - no longer a child, yet so much a child in many ways that my heart aches when I think of what he faces now alone. But it had to be for his own growth. He no longer fitted into this nest, yet while he used it he had to be part of the routine, which no longer interested him." (Daybooks, May 18, 1930).

Braxton Gallery, 1624 N.Vine St., Hollywood, R. M. Schindler, architect, 1929. Viroque Baker and/or Brett Weston photos.

Brett had two months earlier made a rush trip to Los Angeles, possibly accompanied by fellow erstwhile Carmelite Roger Sturtevant, to photograph some projects Pauline included in her "Contemporary Creative Architecture" exhibition which traveled among various West Coast venues during 1930-31. Pauline welcomed with open arms her former Walt Whitman School pupil and quickly began acting as Brett's "agent" and designing his business card (see below). Pauline and sometime housemate Galka Scheyer, the first ever person to purchase a Brett Weston print, would commandeer Harry Braxton's nearby Hollywood gallery (see above) designed by her estranged husband to show wealthy prospective clients Brett's work. Edward had a well-reviewed exhibition at Braxton's the previous February with all of his Los Angeles friends likely in attendance at the opening. (Millier, Arthur, "Realism or Abstraction," Los Angeles Times, February 9, 1930, p. II-17). (PGS. See also my "The Schindlers and the Westons and the Walt Whitman School" and "Richard Neutra and the California Art Club" for much more detail on the Braxton Gallery.).

Brett Weston business card, ca. 1930-31, designed by Pauline Schindler. Brett Weston portrait of Vasia Anikeef, Carmel, 1929. From the Weston Collection. © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.

Laemmle Office Building, Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood, 1932-3, Richard Neutra, architect. From Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture by Thomas S. Hines, Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 160.

Stern was introduced into the Weston-Schindler orbit during Brett's time at the Storer House by Christel Gang. Stern was a higher level production assistant and special advisor to future Neutra client Carl Laemmle at his Universal Pictures while Gang was working as a German translator for Laemmle as well as her association with Stern's Experimental Cinema (see below).

Experimental Cinema, February 1930, inaugural issue.

Then editor of Carmel's avant-garde weekly newspaper The Carmelite, Pauline Schindler had featured contributing editor Weston's 1927 portrait of Gang on the cover the previous year (see below). Coincidentally Edward's "Smokestacks" appeared in his one-man show at the Carmel Playhouse the previous month. (Per Weston bibliographer Paula Freedman.).

Christel Gang, Edward Weston portrait. The Carmelite, April 10, 1929. Front cover. Courtesy Harrison Memorial Library, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.

Jacobs, Lewis, "Eisenstein," Experimental Cinema, February 1931, p. 4.

Then romantically involved with Russian film maker Sergei Eisenstein whom Stern had been urging Laemmle to employ, Gang arranged for a portrait-sitting for him at Brett's Storer House studio. (Sergei M. Eisenstein by Marie Seton, The Bodley Head, London, 1952, p. 156). Stern used Brett's portait of Sergei in the next issue of Experimental Cinema (see above) along with a portfolio of Edward's work and his statement in the same issue (see below). 

"Edward Weston," Experimental Cinema, February 1931, pp. 13-15.

(Author's note: Gang showed Eisenstein her collection of Edward's abstract prints and offered him one of his choosing. He selected an abstract nude of a woman's back which just so happened that she had been the model for (see below).

Weston, Edward, Nude (Christel Gang), 1927. © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents.

Weston, Brett, "Three Fingers and an Ear," (Ramiel McGehee), 1929, gelatin silver print, 6-7/8 x 9-5/16 in. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. From Brett Weston Photographs: 1925-1930 and 1980-1982, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1983, p. 9.

During the portrait session Eisenstein absconded with Brett's now iconic portrait of another Weston-Schindler intimate Ramiel McGehee (see above). 

"He saw a few of my photographs lying around and suddenly declared, "I vant dat!" Without another word he picked up my photograph of "Three Fingers and an Ear" and walked off with it. I couldn't stop him because I was intimidated, but it was a great compliment. That photograph later appeared on the cover (see below) of Camera magazine." (Woods, p. 110).

Weston, Brett, "Three Fingers and an Ear," (Ramiel McGehee), 1929, Camera, February 1973.

Special Eisenstein "Que Viva Mexico!" issue, Experimental Cinema, February 1933.

Sergei M. Eisenstein by Marie Seton, Bodley Head, 1952. Brett Weston frontispiece. (From my collection).  

Brett's portrait of Eisenstein presaged Sergei's making of the film "Que Viva Mexico!" (see above) with the financial backing of prominent Weston-Schindler circle members Upton Sinclair and Kate Crane Gartz. Sergei acknowledged that the inspiration for the film came from the 1926 photos Anita Brenner commissioned from Edward Weston and Tina Modotti to illustrate her Idols Behind Altars (see below). (Seton, p. 194). (For much more on Sinclair and Gartz see my "The Schindlers and the Westons and the Walt Whitman School. For much more on Barnsdall and her Los Angeles Little Theatre see my "Edward Weston, R. M. Schindler, Anna Zacsek, Lloyd Wright, Reginald Pole and Their Dramatic Circles").

Dust jacket for Idols Behind Altars by Annita Brenner, Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1929. Cover illustration by Jean Charlot. (From my collection). (See also in my "The Nude Backs of Edward Weston, Diego Rivera and JeanCharlot, 1925-27"). (For much more on the intimate Schindler-Weston-Charlot connections see my "Schindlers-Westons-Kashevaroff-Cage and Their Avant-Garde Relationships").

Idols Behind Altars by Anita Brenner, Harcourt, Brace, New York, 1929. Frontispiece photo "Hand of the Potter Amado Galvan" by Edward Weston, 1926. (Author's note: This image was also included in the above-mentioned Film und Foto exhibition). (From my collection).