title: To see the Thing Itself: the influence of early object loss on the life and art of Edward Weston.
abstract: Using journals, letters, dreams, early memories, and anniversary phenomena as a clinical data base, an attempt has been made to demonstrate how Edward Weston sought to master the psychic trauma imposed at age 5 by the death of his mother through the medium of photography. His photographic artistry came to dominate his entire life, with nature acting as a symbolic maternal substitute and supplying him with a wealth of material for his work. The circumscribed image of his mother's eyes during her last days, the only recollection he had of her, was a crucial element in his becoming a photographer, whose camera was his one constant love attachment.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D001154:Art; D004208:Displacement, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008426:Maternal Deprivation; D009769:Object Attachment; D010781:Photography; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D013561:Symbolism; D014481:United States