"Iceberg Lake"

E-IL-2
(Conger 1045)

gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard

signed and dated (pencil) by Edward Weston on mount recto;
titled and negativenumber (pencil) on print verso (not visible because of mounting)

Iceberg Lake is hidden away in the high alpine regions of the Sierra Nevada, near Mammoth Lakes in what is now the Ansel Adams Wilderness area. In the summer of 1937, Edward Weston hiked to this remote lake with his partner and later wife, Charis Wilson, in search of subjects for his Guggenheim Fellowship, which took him across the American West.
The floating ice floes lie on dark water like white brushstrokes on a black background. Particularly impressive is the play of light and shadow, which gives the seemingly flat structures spatial depth. Reflections, highlights, and soft shadows model the surface – not documentarily, but almost sculpturally.
The photograph Iceberg Lake is one of Weston's few images from high alpine terrain. It shows the quiet intensity of a place that can only be reached on foot. The work is also special in that it is a signed original print by Edward Weston himself.
(Christoph Fuchs)