Our friend the legendary art publisher Edward Weston slipped peacefully away on March 8, 2007.
It is rare for a man to make his mark in two fields of endeavor, but Edward Weston was a brilliant innovator who set the pace in both television and art.
After World War II, with the help of Uncle Sam (the military gave him broadcast training) Weston took the emerging business of television by storm. He managed K?? in St. Louis and was one of a handful of men who shaped the most powerful communication medium on earth. Edward was the first programmer to broadcast daytime TV and to run simulcasts with radio. He was also among the earliest (if not the first) programmers to develop cooking shows, kids shows, and license movies for broadcast. With these innovations, he became the first GM to run a station at a profit – something Edward was proud of throughout his life.
He was so successful that he was able to retire at an early age (I think he was about 35) and live a life of leisure. That is, until a fateful vacation when he bought some art on impulse while relaxing next to the resort’s pool. Soon after, the art world would change forever.
Edward brought his aggressive imagination to the sleepy art business and woke up an industry. He raised charity auction events to a new level, with a fleet of trucks driving across the country-- helping raise real money for churches and temples from coast to coast. He was also the first art dealer to stage art auctions on cruise lines. In short order, Edward Weston Fine Art became one of the most important art houses in America – publishing artists such as: Salvador Dali, Amleto Dalla Costa, Henry Matisse, G. H. Rothe, Louis Icart, Norman Rockwell, Philippe Noyer, LeRoy Neiman, Andy Warhol, and many others.
Edward Weston also accumulated one of the largest collections of Picasso Edition Ceramics in the United States; parts of the collection are still on museum tour through 2008.
Edward did not stop with traditional art. Along with the film historian John Kobal, and the art dealer turned actor Allan Rich, he pioneered the acceptance of Hollywood Glamour as a legitimate art form. Edward Weston was the first art publisher to exhibit Hollywood Glamour at the Basal Art Fair and helped organize museum shows throughout the US for the classic Hollywood Photographers, most notably George Hurrell. Edward also exhibited, published and developed friendships with the other important photographers including, Laszlo Willinger, C S Bull, Milton Greene, Ted Allan, George Barris, Andre De Dienes, Tom Kelley, and Bert Stern.
As impressive as his business accomplishments were, one of the most inspiring things about Edward was the intellect behind these feats. His mind never stopped or even slowed down -- he stayed remarkably current for a man in his eighties. When we had dinner with him, it was like sitting and talking with a forty year old. An Idea Man who was always thinking of what he could do next, even while lying in bed with mere weeks to live, Edward was plotting a new Exhibition and Auction. Perhaps someday soon that event we spoke of will happen, but now my friend it is time to rest.
Rest now, Lion. Rest.