Gourds

August 1925

Back in Mexico: a joint show with Modotti

His new relationship with Lerner does not last long, and in August he returns to Mexico, this time with his son Brett; Modotti has arranged a joint show of their photographs, and it opens the week he arrives. He receives new critical acclaim, and six of his prints are purchased for the State Museum.

late 1926

Break with Modotti and return to California

By the time they return from the trip, Weston and Modotti’s relationship has crumbled, and within less than two weeks he and Brett go back to California. He never travels to Mexico again.

September 1927

A major exhibition at the Palace of the Legion of Honor

In September he has a major exhibition at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

May 1928

The Mojave Desert: his first landscapes as art

A brief but important trip with Brett to the Mojave Desert, where he first explores and photographs landscape as an art form. The stark rock forms and empty spaces are a visual revelation to him; over a long weekend he takes twenty-seven photographs and declares in his journal that these negatives are the most important he has ever done.

early 1934

Meets Charis Wilson at a concert

Meeting Charis Wilson at a concert, he is immediately captivated by her beauty and personality, even more than with his previous lovers; a new and important chapter opens in his life. He writes that a new and most beautiful love has come into his life, one that he believes will stand the test of time.

1947

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

He is diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and soon stops photographing; he spends the remaining ten years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.