How did Pictorialism influence Edward Weston’s early photographs?

During the early 1920s, Edward Weston was a successful participant in conservative photographic salons, where he produced work in the Pictorialist style. This approach influenced his early photography by encouraging him to imitate the qualities of painting rather than focusing on the unique capabilities of the camera.1

In this phase, Weston’s work was characterized by:
* Suppression of detail: Following Pictorialist conventions, he manipulated images in the darkroom to soften focus.1
* Traditional subject matter: He depicted classic artistic themes, such as romantic marine scenes, pastoral landscapes, children, pets, nudes, and still lifes.1
* Abstracted content: His work often avoided pointed specificity, favoring a style that rendered subjects—such as a particular landscape or person—largely unidentifiable or generic.1

While Weston eventually grew impatient with these "easy victories" and moved toward a "straight" photographic aesthetic, his early rebellion against the salons initially focused on design and the use of the flat picture plane rather than a complete departure from the Pictorialist choice of subject matter.1