Pepper No. 30
Encyclopedia
Pepper No. 30 is one of the best-known photographs taken by Edward Weston
. It depicts a solitary green pepper in rich black-and-white tones, with strong illumination from above.
In the late 1920s Weston began taking a series of close-up images of different objects that he called "still life
s". For several years he experimented with a variety of images of shells, vegetables and fruits, and in 1927 he made his first photograph of a pepper. He received mixed feedback about that image, but two years later he started a new series that focused on peppers alone. He recorded twenty-six negatives of peppers taken during 1929, mostly taken against plain burlap
or muslin
backdrops.
A year later, during a four-day period from August 2-6, 1930, Weston took at least thirty more negatives
of peppers. He first tried again with plain muslin or a piece of white cardboard as the backdrop, but for these images he thought the contrast between the backdrop and the pepper was too stark. On August 3rd he found a large tin funnel, and, placing it on its side, he set a pepper just inside the large open end. He wrote:
By placing the pepper in the opening of the funnel, Weston was able to light it in a way that portrays the pepper in three dimensions, rather than as a flat image. It is this light that gives the image much of its extraordinary quality.
Photo historian Amy Conger, in her extensive catalog of Weston's prints at the Center for Creative Photography
, said Weston made at least twenty-five prints of this image, making it his most popular pepper. She wrote, "There are many reasons for this, the long, smooth, barely turned surfaces; the glow of the light reflecting unpredictably on the firm skin; the gentle "S" curves ‒ all factors enhanced by the almost exaggerated contrasts between light and dark, concave and convex, abstract and tactile; the firm waxed surfaces toughing the scratched tin. Even the rotten spot on the lower right of the back of the pepper does not detract from the sensuous and sensual intensity. Instead the spot grounds the subject, heightening the tension between the subject and form as well as ideal and real."
Years later, Weston wrote about the lasting impact of his pepper images:
At the same time he expressed a some very candid frustration with those who described his peppers in sexual tones:
On the back of a print of one of his peppers that he gave to a friend, Weston wrote, "As you like it ‒ but this is just a pepper ‒ nothing else ‒to the impure all things ‒ are impure."
Weston made this photograph using his Ansco
8x10 Commercial View camera with a Zeiss 21 cm. lens. The smallest aperture
on this lens is f/36.
All prints of Pepper No. 30 are silver gelatin contact prints, approximately 9 1/2" X 7 1/2" (24.1 x 19.2 cm) ‒ the exact size of the 8" X 10" film he used. Some slight variations in size exist due to paper shrinkage over time. Most of the original prints made by Weston are now is museums, including the Center for Creative Photography
, Metropolitan Museum of Art
, Minneapolis Institute of Art and the George Eastman House
.
After his death, his son Cole Weston
made multiple prints of this image according to his father's specifications; all of these prints are clearly labeled as "Printed by Cole Weston."
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
. It depicts a solitary green pepper in rich black-and-white tones, with strong illumination from above.
In the late 1920s Weston began taking a series of close-up images of different objects that he called "still life
Still life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
s". For several years he experimented with a variety of images of shells, vegetables and fruits, and in 1927 he made his first photograph of a pepper. He received mixed feedback about that image, but two years later he started a new series that focused on peppers alone. He recorded twenty-six negatives of peppers taken during 1929, mostly taken against plain burlap
Burlap
Hessian , or burlap in the US, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, or may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, and similar products...
or muslin
Muslin
Muslin |sewing patterns]], such as for clothing, curtains, or upholstery. Because air moves easily through muslin, muslin clothing is suitable for hot, dry climates.- Etymology and history :...
backdrops.
A year later, during a four-day period from August 2-6, 1930, Weston took at least thirty more negatives
Negative (photography)
In photography, a negative may refer to three different things, although they are all related.-A negative:Film for 35 mm cameras comes in long narrow strips of chemical-coated plastic or cellulose acetate. As each image is captured by the camera onto the film strip, the film strip advances so that...
of peppers. He first tried again with plain muslin or a piece of white cardboard as the backdrop, but for these images he thought the contrast between the backdrop and the pepper was too stark. On August 3rd he found a large tin funnel, and, placing it on its side, he set a pepper just inside the large open end. He wrote:
It was a bright idea, a perfect relief for the pepper and adding reflecting light to important contours. I still had the pepper which caused me a week's work, I had decided I could go no further with it, yet something kept me from taking it to the kitchen, the end of all good peppers. I placed it in the funnel, focused with the Zeiss, and knowing just the viewpoint, recognizing a perfect light, made an exposure of six minutes, with but a few moments' preliminary work, the real preliminary was on in hours passed. I have a great negative, ‒ by far the best!
It is a classic, completely satisfying, ‒ a pepper ‒ but more than a pepper; abstract, in that it is completely outside subject matter. It has no psychological attributes, no human emotions are aroused: this new pepper takes one beyond the world we know in the conscious mind.
To be sure, much of my work has this quality...but this one, and in fact all of the new ones, take one into an inner reality, ‒ the absolute, ‒ with a clear understanding, a mystic revealment. This is the "significant presentation" that I mean, the presentation through one's intuitive self, seeing "through one's eyes, not with them": the visionary."
By placing the pepper in the opening of the funnel, Weston was able to light it in a way that portrays the pepper in three dimensions, rather than as a flat image. It is this light that gives the image much of its extraordinary quality.
Photo historian Amy Conger, in her extensive catalog of Weston's prints at the Center for Creative Photography
Center for Creative Photography
The Center for Creative Photography , established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American photographers including those of Edward Weston, Harry Callahan and Garry...
, said Weston made at least twenty-five prints of this image, making it his most popular pepper. She wrote, "There are many reasons for this, the long, smooth, barely turned surfaces; the glow of the light reflecting unpredictably on the firm skin; the gentle "S" curves ‒ all factors enhanced by the almost exaggerated contrasts between light and dark, concave and convex, abstract and tactile; the firm waxed surfaces toughing the scratched tin. Even the rotten spot on the lower right of the back of the pepper does not detract from the sensuous and sensual intensity. Instead the spot grounds the subject, heightening the tension between the subject and form as well as ideal and real."
Years later, Weston wrote about the lasting impact of his pepper images:
I have done perhaps fifty negatives of peppers: because of the endless variety in form manifestations, because of their extraordinary surface texture, because of the power, the force suggested in their amazing convolutions. A box of peppers at the corner grocery hold implications to stir me emotionally more than almost any other edible form, for they run the gamut of natural forms, in experimental surprises.
At the same time he expressed a some very candid frustration with those who described his peppers in sexual tones:
The peppers which are libeled more than anything I have done, ‒ in them has been found vulvas, penises or combinations, sexual intercourse, Madonna with child, wrestlers, modern sculpture, African carving, ad nauseam, according to the state of mind of the spectator: and I have a lot of fun sizing up people from their findings!
Now call the above explanation my defense mechanism become active [sic], I say that it is disgust and weariness over having my work labeled and pigeonholed by those who bring to it their own obviously abnormal, frustrated condition: the sexually unemployed belching gaseous irrelevancies from an undigested Freudian ferment.
On the back of a print of one of his peppers that he gave to a friend, Weston wrote, "As you like it ‒ but this is just a pepper ‒ nothing else ‒to the impure all things ‒ are impure."
Weston made this photograph using his Ansco
Ansco
Ansco was the name of a photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced inexpensive cameras for most of the 20th century. It also sold rebadged versions of cameras made by other manufacturers, including Agfa and Chinon...
8x10 Commercial View camera with a Zeiss 21 cm. lens. The smallest aperture
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
on this lens is f/36.
All prints of Pepper No. 30 are silver gelatin contact prints, approximately 9 1/2" X 7 1/2" (24.1 x 19.2 cm) ‒ the exact size of the 8" X 10" film he used. Some slight variations in size exist due to paper shrinkage over time. Most of the original prints made by Weston are now is museums, including the Center for Creative Photography
Center for Creative Photography
The Center for Creative Photography , established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American photographers including those of Edward Weston, Harry Callahan and Garry...
, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, Minneapolis Institute of Art and the George Eastman House
George Eastman House
The George Eastman House is the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. World-renowned for its photograph and motion picture archives, the museum is also a leader in film preservation and...
.
After his death, his son Cole Weston
Cole Weston
Cole Weston was the youngest son of photographer Edward Weston and brother of photographer Brett Weston. He dedicated his life to photography and the theater....
made multiple prints of this image according to his father's specifications; all of these prints are clearly labeled as "Printed by Cole Weston."