Platinum, 35 x 28 cm, 1927

In 1927 Edward Weston came into contact with the artist Henrietta Shore (1880-1963). Based in Los Angeles, Shore had been painting shells for several years and introduced him to the subject. She is one of the few artists he credited directly as having influenced him, as he wrote in his daybook, "I think the Chambered Nautilus has one of the most exquisite forms, to say nothing of color and texture, in nature. I was awakened to shells by the painting of Henry. . . . Henry's influence, or stimulation, I see not just in shell subject matter, it is in all my late work, in the bananas and the nudes. I feel it not as an extraneous garnish but as a freshened tide swelling from within myself. - Getty

Shells is a 8" x 10" platinum photograph taken by Edward Weston in 1927. The image features a nautilus shell balanced within an abalone shell that rests upon a semi-reflective surface. The combined shells are set against a plain, dark background, and their pale tones mean that they shine brightly against it. Their curves appear to blend into one abstract form, although at the top of the composition the nautilus shell curves forward, giving the overall shape a seahorse-like, organic quality. The bottom of the form is also curved and the surface on which it rests is slightly convex, such that the shell shape appears precariously balanced.

Weston took this photograph in his studio in Glendale, California, in 1927. To do so, he carefully placed the two shells into position and photographed them using a long exposure time of several hours, a process that lead to the intense contrast between light and shadow in the image. In the photograph's title, Shells, the plural prompts the viewers to look closely and identify the divisions between the carefully placed objects, which may be mistaken for one single shell. - Tate Gallery, London

Contact printed from original negative by master platinum printer Tom Millea in 2001. Titled, negative information and signed by Tom Millea and Kim Weston.