Santa Fe Engine

1937–1939

Nearly 1,400 negatives in two years on the fellowship

The first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, he produces nearly 1,400 negatives over the next two years with his 8 × 10 view camera.

1939

“Seeing California with Edward Weston”

In 1939 “Seeing California with Edward Weston” is published, with photographs by Weston and text by Wilson.

by 1939

The house on Wildcat Hill in the Carmel Highlands

Weston commissions his son Neil to build a small house in the Carmel Highlands on land owned by Wilson’s father. They name the place “Wildcat Hill” after the many domestic cats that soon occupy the grounds. Wilson sets up a writing studio in what was meant to be a small garage behind the house and spends several months writing and editing stories from their travels.

24 April 1939

Marries Charis Wilson

Finally relieved of past financial stress and inordinately happy with both his work and his relationship, Weston marries Wilson in a small ceremony on 24 April.

1940

The book “California and the West”

Buoyed by the success of their first book, Weston and Wilson publish “California and the West” in 1940; the first edition, with 96 of Weston’s photographs and text by Wilson, sold for $3.95.

28 May 1941

The trip to illustrate Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”

Just as the Guggenheim money is running out, Weston is invited to illustrate a new edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”: $1,000 for the photographs and $500 for travel expenses. He insists on artistic control and refuses to make literal illustrations of Whitman’s text. On 28 May he and Wilson set out on a trip that will cover 20,000 miles through 24 states; he takes between 700 and 800 8×10 negatives as well as dozens of Graflex portraits.