Untitled (Nude Floating),

1939

Weston married the author Charis Wilson the same year he captured this photograph of her floating in her father’s swimming pool in Carmel, California. More than merely a muse for Weston’s most famous nude photographs, Wilson played an active role in his success by editing his writings and assisting him on photography expeditions around the country. Weston’s signature modernist aesthetic called for graphic simplicity and formal abstraction. Unlike many of his nude photographs of Wilson taken in natural landscapes, this image prominently features her face as well as her body and captures a man-made setting. The contrast in tones emphasizes the disparity between the solidity of the concrete pool and the fluidity of the water. Wilson’s ethereal presence can be read as either peaceful or corpselike.