There’s alot written about the love-story between photographer, Edward Weston, and his assistant-wife, Charis Wilson.

Charis Wilson was one of Edward Weston’s most famous nude models. She married the photographer, April 24th, 1938. The couple lived in Carmel and together wrote numerous essays on photography and the arts. After an opportunity to watch a TV documentary about  this pair, I came away with a heightened desire to learn more. From what I located via Google, many versions of the romance have been discussed, posted and published, so I went in search of more…..

Charis Wilson was 19 years old when in California, she met Edward Weston 48, when they met in 1934. Charis was his young model, with a love to write! I fell in love with this side of her, admiring her ability to pull out a story just as quickly as Edward could capture a photo. Spontaneity the magic! While Edward would focus on his subject, Charis would plug away at the keys on her trusty typewriter, no matter where they might be. I think it was inevitable that these two artists would eventually become lovers, remaining together for 11 years in a partnership and marriage in which she posed for him, assisted him at work and wrote texts he illustrated.

Their adventurous journey alive through words and images, such destinations documented because of their inspiration, hence Edward’s desire to move them into a cabin in the Carmel Highlands which was built by Edward’s son, Neil. Wildcat Hill was nestled nearby land which was owned by Charis’s father,and as they settled both found other ways of using their time. While Edward was busy developing the film from the Guggenheim project,Charis found time for gardening in between editing pages of her diaries.

Long after Charis had moved on, Edward remained at Wildcat Hill,where he lived off and on from 1938 until his death in 1958.

Her book, “Through Another Lens” Charis Wilson jump starts her recollection of her years with Edward Weston with a visit to Death Valley (where, as model and photographer, they made many of his most famous photographs) for the first time in nearly 50 years. From there she follows the flow of memory. Wilson was just 19 when she first met the 48-year-old photographer. Shortly after that first encounter, Weston jotted the following entry in one of his Daybooks: “I have not opened this book for almost 8 months–and with good reason; I have been too busy, busy living. I notice the last entry was 4-20. On 4-22 a new love came into my life, a most beautiful one, one which will, I believe, stand the test of time.” Wilson remembers spotting a “short man in brown clothes” as she scanned a crowded room after a concert; he was Weston. Wilson soon became his model (she is the subject of more than half of his recorded nudes), then his lover, and ultimately his wife. Their relationship seemed to transcend that of artist and muse. The two worked alongside one another, she assisting him in the darkroom, he illustrating texts she wrote.
Wilson’s memoir is filled with anecdotes about Weston’s work methods and personal habits that his admirers will find delightful: Weston wore glasses to focus his shot, then yanked them off to view his subject so that each shot was achieved through a flurry of the glasses flying off and onto the photographer’s face; he used a heavy tarp to transform the back of his Ford V-8 into a darkroom; he ambushed the sun, laying in the sand until it illuminated his subject just the way he desired; coated cats’ whiskers with butter so they’d lick them, staying in one place long enough for him to take his shot; and had a penchant for foods that would revolt even the most iron stomached. These recollections combined with other details about their lives together, their friendships with Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Jack London and other luminaries and their work form a comprehensive if roseate view of Weston that is a substantial addition to what we know about the legendary photographer. –Jordana Moskowitz

Wonderful interview here:

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/05/28/interview-with-edward-westons-wife-and-muse-charis-wilson/