Edward Weston
Armco Steel

Armco Steel

© 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents

Armco Steel
Armco Steel
ArtistAmerican, 1886–1958
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Armco Steel
Date1922
PlaceMiddletown, Ohio, United States
MediumPalladium print
DimensionsImage: 9 9/16 × 7 5/8 in. (24.3 × 19.4 cm)
Sheet: 9 9/16 × 7 5/8 in. (24.3 × 19.4 cm)
Mount: 18 1/16 × 14 1/16 in. (45.8 × 35.7 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the estate of Caroline Wiess Law, The Manfred Heiting Collection
Object number2002.2635
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Edward Weston took this photograph at the American Rolling Mill Company in Middletown, Ohio, in 1922 while traveling from his California studio to New York City. The image demonstrates Weston's early departure from the Pictorialist style a soft-focus approach that aimed to put photography on a par with painting in favor of a more streamlined, abstract, and sharply focused aesthetic in picture-making. When he arrived in New York City and met Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Sheeler, and Paul Strand, among others, they influenced Weston to continue his exploration of Modernism in photography.


  In Armco Steel, Weston created a powerful and overall abstract composition. This effect is derived from the bold and dynamic vertical thrust of seven tall smokestacks that appear as one wide stepped tower, and from the interaction of the smokestacks with the curved and horizontal pipes, all against a background of factory and office buildings that themselves form a Modernist grid. This photograph symbolizes the power, wealth, scale, and significance of the steel industry in 1920s America.


 Weston was best known for his landscapes of the American West, particularly of the Northern California coast. Along with other important photographers such as Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham, he was a founding member of Group f/64. His influence was further extended by the publication of his diaries, in which he wrote of his aesthetics as well as of his life.


ProvenanceEx-collection Jean Charlot; ex-collection James Maroney, Inc, New York; Sotheby's, New York, ex-collection Frank Kolodny, Princeton; Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe.

Bought by Manfred Heiting from Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, on 8/8/1989..
Exhibition History"Photography's Response to Constructivism", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1980.

"Edward Weston - The Home Spirit and Beyond", J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1986.

"Twentiest Century Master, American Photographs", Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

"American Vision: Photographers from the West, Selections from the Manfred Heiting Collection purchased by the Brown Foundation for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston from August 23-February 1, 2004.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, recto of mount, lower left: "Pipes and Stacks"
Inscribed in pencil, verso of mount, but then erased: "for Charlot / with much appreciation in many ways"
Signed in pencil, three times: 1. verso of sheet: "Edward Weston / Ohio 1922", 2. recto of mount, beneath sheet: "Edward Weston / Ohio 1922", 3. verso of mount, center: "Edward Weston Mexico 1924"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Armco Steel, Ohio
Edward Weston
1922, printed 1978
Gelatin silver print
78.90
Armco Steel, Ohio
Edward Weston
1922, printed later
Gelatin silver print
2017.488
cropped recto of mount
Edward Weston
1920, printed late 1970s
Platinum/palladium print
2012.629
Tina Modotti
Edward Weston
October 3, 1924
Palladium print
78.61
Epilogue
Edward Weston
1919
Palladium print
78.62
Rohre
Ludwig Windstosser
1950s
Gelatin silver print
2002.2678
Concrete pipe plant
Ludwig Windstosser
1960s
Gelatin silver print
2002.2697
Hahnsche Werke - Pipe Production Plant
Ludwig Windstosser
1960s
Gelatin silver print
2002.2695
Steam Turbine and Alley, Crude Refinery Unit, Lyondell--CITGO, Houston, 1999
Andrew Borowiec
1999
Gelatin silver print diptych
2000.336.A,.B
Frechen
Werner Mantz
1930
Gelatin silver print
2002.1593
Smoke Stacks and Rollers
Ludwig Windstosser
1952
Gelatin silver print
2002.2685
Tubosaurus, No. 30914
Else Thalemann
1929, printed 1946–1984
Gelatin silver print
2000.914