Charis Wilson Photo Icon
November 29, 2009
Edward Weston and Charis Wilson
Charis Wilson died last week. I’ve been uncomfortable reading the obits. When the NYT describes her first as Edward Weston’s lover, I feel like that isn’t the top of her list of personal achievements. There is an interesting recent interview with Charis at Photo Icon. Charis doesn’t say much to negate Weston’s image as a sexually obsessed adult male, who left a trail of models and/or ex-wives including three extremely talented 20th century artists: Margrethe Mather, Tina Modotti and Sonya Noskowiak. Charis does help us understand the passion that Weston shared with all his partners.
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The Coruscating Camera 
If anyone cares to view “The Eloquent Nude” which was recently released last year, I believe…you might enjoy the video. It originally had an east coast opening up in Brattleboro at one of the theaters there. I bought a copy and enjoy it. Since there is very little film footage of Edward Weston and Charis Wilson, the producers used actors (who look almost exactly like the real people Weston and Wilson. The actual actors are husband and wife playing out scenes filmed with a vintage look, scratches and all. In fact, the man playing Edward Weston is actually a photographer himself. So, you’ll see his wife actually being photographed by him as she portrays Charis. I would encourage getting a copy before they aren’t available.
This sounds like a very interesting video. I saw a documentary where Tina Modotti and Edward Weston were depicted using stand-ins. It was good. Does HCC have “The Eloquent Nude?”