The photograph offered here, Edward Weston’s iconic Pepper No. 30, comes originally from the collects ion of J. Leslie Meek, an advertising representative who worked for California Arts & Architecture from the magazine’s founding in 1929 through 1933. As indicated by notations on the reverse of the present photograph, this print was used for the image’s debut illustration on page 37 of the November 1930 issue of California Arts & Architecture.  

Led by Editor Harris Allen, an architect, California Arts & Architecture focused on modernist architecture, gardens, and applied arts, but also featured gallery exhibition listings and short articles covering Californian cinema, dance, opera, and Replica Handbags . The present photograph was used for an article in the November 1930 issue titled “The Art of Edward Weston” written by critic José Rodríguez. As Weston recounted in his Daybook entries for 7 and 8 August 1930, Rodriguez visited his home and darkroom when he was deeply engaged in photographing peppers:

“One very appreciative visitor was [José] Rodriguez–a Guatemalan–a writer, friend of many friends of mine…With him I spent the whole evening willingly, for he gained in the seeing,--took something away, and I gained in the giving,--he left something behind. Those last new peppers! They are so powerful!...I could wait no longer to print them,--my new peppers, so I put aside several orders, and yesterday afternoon had an exciting t.mes with seven new negatives. First I printed my favorite…[Rodriguez] was deeply moved when I showed the new print just made.”(The Daybooks of Edward Weston, Part II, California, p. 181).

Weston was the first photographer to be featured in California Arts & Architecture magazine and the three-page spread given to his work was lavish compared to the minimal space allotted to other Replica Handbags s features at the t.mes . Rodriguez’s laudatory essay devotes six paragraphs to exploring Weston’s series of pepper images, concluding “No, Weston is not interested in making green peppers look like the Laocoon group. He doesn’t give a damn, in fact if he can make a pepper look like the Nike of Samothrace. What he does give a considerable damn about is to show, by means of a black and white print, that the green pepper is a thing that moves and lives, that has fragrance and richness.” (p. 37). The photographs reproduced ranged from Weston’s portraits of notables to his modernist still life, including the present print of Pepper No. 30 and Shell and Olla (see Photographs Part II). As was standard for photographs intended for reproduction, Weston printed these images on paper with a glossy surface.

Early prints of Pepper No. 30 made close to the August 1930 negative are exceedingly rare. Only one other comparable print has been offered at auction, sold in these rooms in 2006 from the collects ion of 7-Eleven, Inc.