Western Plaster Mill, Los Angeles (86.XM.710.5)

From the Getty Museum record

> In October 1924 Edward Weston wrote in his daybook, “I cannot remain away much longer from the boys.” Earlier that year he had begun making plans to return to the United States, but after obtaining rail passes, he decided not to leave Mexico after all. By the end of December, however, he and his eldest son, Chandler (1910-1995), did take the train back to Los Angeles. Although he enjoyed visiting old friends like Margrethe Mather (1886-1952) and spending time with his children, Weston found California distasteful, and it was only a few days after his arrival that he announced his intention to return to Mexico as soon as he had the financial resources to do so. “I have sold two lenses and am bending every effort towards acquiring money for the return,” he wrote on January 9, 1925. > > Weston's artistic productivity dropped significantly during his eight-month stay in California; only about forty photographs from this period have been located. This photograph is one example. It was probably made in the summer of 1925, shortly before his return to Mexico. Drawing on compositional structures he had developed with images like Pyramid of Teopanzolco (see [85.XM.244](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/33667/edward-weston-pyramid-of-teopanzolco-cuernavaca-american-1924/)), Weston returned to the subject of industry, which he had not explored in depth since his Armco Steel of 1922 (see [86.XM.710.7](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/54961/edward-weston-armco-steel-american-1922/)). Here he transforms the asymmetrical network of planes that makes up the factory's roofline into a balanced patchwork of gray-white tones, deep black accents, and strong lines. Through viewpoint and framing, the massive structure's space and volume appear compressed, recalling the lessons of Cubism. > > Much of Weston's stay in California was spent in San Francisco, where he saw friends such as Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) and shared a studio with Johan Hagemeyer (1884-1962). Weston was not successful in generating significant income there, however. Then, in late July, he showed his work at the Japanese Club in Los Angeles, selling $140 worth of prints in three days. A few weeks later he sailed back to Mexico, this time with his son Brett (1911-1993). > > Brett Abbott. *Edward Weston*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005), 40. ©2005, J. Paul Getty Trust.