35

Edward Weston

1886-1958

Dead Man, Colorado Desert. 1937.

Silver print
With Weston's title, negative notation "CD-B-2G," and date in pencil on verso.
The image 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (19.1 x 24.1 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    A Country Called California: The Collection of Stephen White
  • Literature:
    Amy Conger, Edward Weston: Photographs from the Collection of the Center for Creative Photography (CCP/The University of Arizona), cat. no. 1013/1937
    Stephen White, foreword by Lynell George, A Country Called California, Photographs 1850s to 1960s (Angel City Press, 2022), p. 108
    Edward Weston, "Desert Tragedy" ( Life 2:25, June 21, 1937), p. 98
    Edward Weston and Charis Weston, California and the West (Duell, Sloan, & Pearce, 1940)
    Ben Maddow, Edward Weston His Life and Photographs (Aperture, 1979), p. 199
  • Notes:
    Another print of this image was included in Weston's retrospective at MoMA in 1946 (February 12 - March 31), and is housed in collections including Huntington, MoMA, SFMOMA, and others.

    After chancing across this man in the desert while looking for bushes and bones, Weston made two images of the figure. The first was a full length image, but when he wrote "a little sun cut through the branches lighting the face" he knew he had to make another shot, this one. He sent the photograph to Willard Morgan at Life, paid him $25 and published the image.
  • Condition: For condition reports, email Deborah Rogal at [email protected]

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February 12, 2026 12:00 PM EST
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