THE PORTFOLIOS OF BRETT WESTON

Between 1939 and 1980 Brett Weston produced eighteen limited edition portfolios of original photographs. He believed passionately in the power of his original prints and chose the portfolio as the way to reach an expanded audience while still maintaining control over image quality. Today, Weston’s original portfolios are rare, expensive, and relatively inaccessible in museums, archives, libraries, or private collections.

Printing technology now makes it possible, however, to bring the Brett Weston portfolios to a larger audience in reproductions that, in their rich detail, tonal scale and color, surface quality, and aesthetic appeal, are almost indistinguishable from the original prints. Printed in Belgium by Salto in unprecedented 600-line screen quadtone, and later by Dual Graphics in 400-line screen quadtone (after Salto ceased printing books). Printed on heavy coated stock, the photographs have been reproduced actual size whenever possible.

To recreate the feeling of the original portfolios, great care has been taken not only with the reproduction of the photographs, but with every aspect of these books. Where there is text in the portfolios, it is reproduced in facsimile, and the color of each book’s cover has been selected to match the covers of the original portfolio cases.

The art historian Roger Aikin, a close friend of Brett’s, has provided an introductory essay for each book in the series with writing that sets the photographs in the context of Weston’s life and career. Dr. Aikin’s critical analysis comparing the photographs of Brett and those of his father was published in 1973 and remains the finest analysis of its type we have ever seen.

Many of the photographs in these new books have never before been reproduced. The hardbound edition is limited to 250 numbered copies and the softbound edition is limited to 1000 copies.

In addition to the 16 portfolios there are 3 additional volumes in the series. Number 17, Prints for Students, is a collection of prints that Brett offered to students at a significantly discounted price. Number 18 is the Special Edition of 1951. Number 19 is a Career Overview by the art historian Roger Aikin. Also included in the Career Overview is a “Memoir” by the Michael A. Smith, who knew Brett well and who is the publisher of Lodima Press books. Numbers 18 and 19 are contained in the same binding making 18 books in the set.

The hardbound copies were originally available only to subscribers to the entire series. A very limited number remain from subscriptions that were cancelled, and are available individually. The price for each of these is currently $250. Still fewer complete sets of the hardbound books are available. These complete sets are currently priced at $3000.

The softbound edition is limited to 1000 copies, and books are available individually for $59.95 to $79.95 each. The entire softbound set is discounted to $895.