Selected Chronology:

1909

Flora Chandler and Edward Weston are married on January 30.

1911

Edward sets up first photo studio at 113 Brand, Tropico, CA.

Theodore Brett Weston born at home on December 16, at 2:30 A.M.

1920s

Margarethe Mather tells, Edwrd that Brett Will be an artist.

Brett meets Imogen Cunnigham and other photographers.

1925

Edward returns to Mexico with Brett on August 21. Brett makes his first photographs while traveling to Mexico. Attends school for two weeks and quits, ending his formal education.

Meets writers and artists in Mexico: Diego Rivera, Jean Charlot, Jose Clemente Orozco, Siquieros among others.

Takes up photography in a serious way, using Edward's 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Graflex: "I became impassioned with my first imagery on the ground glass." First significant photographs are generally still lifes.

1926

Travels with Tina and Edward throughout central Mexico, continues photographing.

Experiments with glossy paper, influencing Edward.

Returns to Glendale, California in late November with his father.

1927

First exhibition. Edward and Brett show together at the University of California (now UCLA) in February; exhibition planned and carried out by Barbara Morgan, then a painter. Edward shows one hundred prints, Brett twenty.

1928

Edward reopens Tropico portrait studio with Brett as assistant.

Brett moves briefly to San Francisco with father in August. He does most of Edward's developing of portrait negatives.

1929

Brett and Edward move to Carmel in January.

Brett's work chosen for exhibition in the Deutsche Werkbund exhibition, "Film Und Foto," in Stuttgart, which included the work of photographers from the United States, Belgium, Germany, France, Holland, Russia, and Czechoslovakia. Edward exhibits twenty prints, Brett eighteen.

1930

Brett moves out of his father's house to San Fernando valley, establishes studio.

Photographs Prometheus mural for Orozco, portrait for Sergei Eisenstein.

1931

Brett marries Elinore Stone on January 16.

In October, Brett and Elinore, move to Santa Maria, California, set up photographic studio.

1932

Brett has one man show at M.H. De Young museum in San Francisco, in January.

Brett and Elinore move to Santa Barbara in April, sets up studio.

Group f-64 formed in October, at home of Willard Van Dyke, in San Francisco. Although not a member, Brett exhibits in first and only show of Group f/64 at M.H. deYoung Museum in San Francisco, in December.

Brett and Elinore divorce.

1934

Brett is hired as Sculptor for PWAP.

First one-man show in New York City at Julian Levy Gallery.

1935

Brett opens a portrait studio with Edward in Santa Monica, in June. Edward mans the camera, and Brett does the developing and printing. Clients include such notables as James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, and Igor Stravinsky.

1936

Moves to San Francisco.

Marries Cicely Edmunds on Sept. 23, 1936.

Resigns from FAP in December.

1938

Brett's only child, Erica, is born on January 11, in Los Angeles.

Brett produces his first portfolio of ten 8 x 10 prints, “San Francisco”.

1939

Cicely leaves Brett and Erica.

1940

Brett and Erica move to Southern California, and settle in Santa Monica.

1941

Takes job at Douglas Aircraft as darkroom technician.

Develops 700 negatives made by Edward for special edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Edward's trip cut short by bombing of Pearl Harbor and outbreak of World War II.

1942

Takes job at North American Aviation as industrial photographer.

1943

Works as cameraman for Twentieth Century-Fox.

Gives up deferment and enters draft. Inducted at Fort McArthur, Dec. 17th, 1943. Begins basic training at Camp Roberts, California.

1944

Transferred to Signal Corps duty in New York City.

Roams the city with large-format cameras (8 x 10 and 11 x 14) during off-duty hours.

Establishes important photographic contacts, primarily through Nancy Newhall, acting director of photography at The Museum of Modern Art. Meets Paul Strand, who lends him the use of his darkroom and lenses.

Encouraged to apply for a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship by Rene d'Harnoncourt, head of the Coordination Committee at The Museum of Modern Art.

1945

In April, he is notified that he has been granted a $2,500 Guggenheim fellowship.

Re-assigned to Fort Bliss Texas near El Paso, in November.

Discovers White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. Spends weekends and furloughs photographing there.

1946

Discharged from army March 31, 1946.

Returns to California and Erica.

1947

Begins Guggenheim travels along east coast in March. Photographs for five months continuously.

Returns to Santa Monica in August, to print Guggenheim works.

1948

Moves to Carmel. Lives at Wildcat Hill, in Bodie house with Erica.

Meets Dody Warren, Edward's new assistant.

In November, buys eighty acres of land with his brother Cole at Garrapata Creek ten miles south of Carmel. Makes own adobe bricks to build studio-home.

1949

Produces a second portfolio, “White Sands”, with a foreword by Nancy Newhall.

1951

Brett produces a portfolio, “New York”, with a foreword by Beaumont Newhall.

Brett produces a special-edition portfolio, consisting of five photographs each, chosen from the best of his work.

1952

Brett interrupts career to print, under his father's direction, a Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio of Edward's work, in an edition of one hundred, each containing twelve of Edward's photographs. Cole Weston, Dody, and Morley and Frances Baer all aid in the task, which consumes most of the year.

Brett and Dody are married on December 6, in Carmel.

1955

Undertakes second print project for his father. Prints eight copies each, of 800 photographs that Edward considered his best work.

1956

Merle Armitage designs and writes text for Brett's first publication, Brett Weston: Photographs, which contains twenty-eight, 8 x 10 reproductions.

Brett and Dody divorce.

1958

Edward Weston dies on New Year's Day.

1959

Begins extensive travels: makes first trip to Glen Canyon, spending nearly three weeks on the river.

1960

First trip to Europe, travels through the British Isles, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. On the road for more than eight months, covering 30,000 miles.

1961

Produces portfolio, “Fifteen Photographs”.

First extended travels to Oregon and Pacific Northwest.

1963

Brett produces portfolio of 11 x 14 inch contact prints, “Ten Photographs”

1964

First photographic trip to Baja California.

1966

Exhibition at Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.

Trips to Oregon and Baja California.

1967

Produces portfolio of fifteen photographs, “Baja California”.

Extended trips to Baja California.

1968

As a guest of German Government in cultural exchange, Brett returns to Europe. Holds exhibitions of work in Cologne, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin.

Begins to use small-format camera when Rollei Corp. provides new SL-66 camera, in exchange for comments and some prints.

1969

Meets Christine (Tina) Goodwyn. They are married on July 26.

1970

Makes first trip to Japan. Produces portfolio, “Fifteen Photographs of Japan”.

Brett and Tina divorce.

1971

One-man exhibition of 150 of Brett's prints held at the Friends of Photography, Carmel, California.

Returns to Europe briefly in the fall, and makes his most popular image "Canal, Holland."

1973

Produces “Europe” portfolio.

Awarded $5,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to photograph in Alaska.

1975

Celebrates fifty year career in photography.

Produces “Oregon” portfolio with foreword by Bernard Fremesser.

Major traveling exhibition at the University of New Mexico, organized by Beaumont Newhall and entitled, "Fifty Years in Photography"; Brett Weston: Voyage of the Eye, with afterword by Beaumont Newhall, produced in conjunction with the exhibition.

1977

Produces "Portraits of My Father" portfolio with a foreword by Ansel Adams.

1978

Produces two portfolios, "Alaska" and "Twenty Photographs 1970-1977.”

Makes first trip to Hawaii.

1979

Builds black pool and begins underwater nude series in Carmel Valley.

1980

Produces three portfolios, "Hawaii -- Leaves and Lava" with fifteen photographs and a foreword by Boon Morrison, and "Abstractions #1 & # 2." with twenty photographs each and forewords by Don Ross.

Completes his first house in Hawaii, where he intends to live part of the time.

Brett Weston: Photographs from Five Decades published by Aperture.

Over 100 one-man exhibitions since the beginning of his career.

1982

"Symposium" held at Carmel Valley Music Center celebrating Brett's career in photography, on July 17.

1986

Awarded "Medal Of Honor With A Dark Navy Blue Ribbon" by Emperor of Japan. Receives award at the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco on May 26.

Brett Weston: A Personal Selection published by Photography West Graphics.

1989

Photography West Graphics publishes Brett Weston: Master Photographer.

1991

December 16, 1991, major celebration of 80th birthday at Stonepine Lodge, Carmel Valley, Ca. Burns small quantities of negatives for publicity; most others destroyed in trash can with water and gasoline.

1992

Photography West Graphics publishes Hawaii: Fifty Photographs by Brett Weston.

1993

Dies January 22 from stroke complications.

1997

The Brett Weston Archive founded by Christian Keesee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.