Dante's View, Death Valley

Artist Edward Weston (American, 1886 - 1958)

Date1938

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 7 5/8 x 8 1/2 inches (19.37 x 21.59 cm)
Framed: 21 1/4 x 17 1/4 inches (53.98 x 43.82 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.4467

InscribedSignature Signed Edward Weston in artist's hand Back of Mount Titled Signed in artist's hand Back of Mount Initialed and dated Signed in artist's hand "EW 1938" Front of Mount Description: LR corner Notations "Dv--Dv--16g" Back of Mount Pencil

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionLandscape image with mountains layered in the background. A series of winding streams and pools of water fill the foreground.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Rotation 4. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 20, 2008 – January 15, 2009, no cat.

Rotation 5. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 15 – July 9, 2009, no cat.

Rotation 11. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 17, 2001 – March 18, 2012, no cat.

Gallery Label

Edward Weston took this striking image of California’s Death Valley from the vista known as Dante’s View, one mile above the valley floor. He used large-format negatives to print images with crisp clarity. Weston believed landscape photography could convey the transcendent power of nature and its impact on humanity. "By landscape," Weston said in 1938, "I mean every physical aspect of a given region—weather, soil, wildflowers, mountain peaks—and its effect on the psyche and physical appearance of people."

Provenance

Private Collector;
Purchased from private collector's sale, Photographs, Sotheby's, New York, April 14, 1992, lot 237 by Houk Friedman Gallery, New York, NY, 1992;
Purchased from Houk Friedman Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1992;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

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