EDWARD WESTON, Duck-shaped water bottle, Patzcuaro, 1926, 6.5x9.25" Gelatin silver print, Printed c. 1926.

Classic still life of Mexican folk art made for Anita Brenner as part of her large project on Mexican art, published as Idols Behind Altars in 1929. Provenance: From Anita Brenner, by descent to her son Peter Glusker.

A Mexican-born journalist, art historian, and anthropologist of Latvian Jewish descent who spent part of her youth in Texas, Anita Brenner (1905-1974) chronicled the Mexican Renaissance of the 1920s and played a vital role in introducing Mexican art and culture to American audiences. In 1929, Brenner wrote the book Idols Behind Altars, a seminal work on Mexican modern art. In it she combined folklore and history to paint the story of Mexico in broad strokes, recording her firsthand impressions of the artists, their work and their dramas. Brenner commissioned Edward Weston and Tina Modotti to take photographs of Mexican art and cultural sites to serve as illustrations for the book. Its vision of Mexican art and culture inspired Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein to create his famous film project ¡Que Viva Mexico!, an unfinished legend of modernist cinema.

Excellent. Minor wear.