32 Facts About Charis Wilson

Helen Charis Wilson was an American model and writer, most widely known as a subject of Edward Weston's photographs.

Charis Wilson was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of Harry Leon Wilson and Helen Charis Cooke Wilson.

Charis Wilson's father wrote popular fiction, including the bestselling novel Ruggles of Red Gap, which was later made into a movie.

Charis Wilson developed a reputation at school as a boisterous free-thinker for doing such things as starting a "self-control" club in grade school in which initiates had to lie in a tub filled with frigid water.

Charis Wilson's behavior led to her being expelled from the private Branson School in the eighth grade, and she spent the next two years at the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon.

Charis Wilson returned to Carmel and finished high school with her brother.

Charis Wilson visited their home often and was captivated by their substantial collection of modern paintings and sculptures.

Charis Wilson said later that Arensberg was entirely responsible for her art education.

Charis Wilson's parents divorced when she was 12, and although she was still in school she rarely saw either one of them.

Charis Wilson often stayed with her grandmother or great aunt.

Charis Wilson's father approved of her returning to Portland to finish high school, but although she won a full scholarship to Sarah Lawrence he refused to allow her to go.

Charis Wilson wrote in her memoir that she was "desperately unhappy" as she "acquired a number of boyfriends and patronized the last of the speakeasies" [the illegal secret bars that operated during the Prohibition era].

Charis Wilson described herself as falling into a downward spiral of depression, heavy drinking and a series of unsatisfactory boyfriends.

Charis Wilson moved into the attic of a painter friend and had a series of love affairs that led to an unwanted pregnancy.

Charis Wilson stopped by Weston's studio a few days later, only to find that Weston had gone to Los Angeles on business.

Charis Wilson was fascinated by Weston's stark black and white photographs of California landscapes and especially his photographs of various models in the nude, which she found very appealing.

Charis Wilson made 31 photographs of her nude form in 1934 alone, each laboriously visualized and captured with his 4 X 5 Graflex camera, then hand developed and printed in his small darkroom.

Charis Wilson said she found the place "magical" and had no trouble shedding any last semblances of inhibition that might have remained.

Charis Wilson recalled that Weston was concentrating on photographing the landscape, when she took off her clothes and rolled down the sand dunes.

Charis Wilson immediately focused his camera on her, capturing both the spontaneity of her freedom and her unabashedly sensual form.

Weston in his photographs of his nude models prior to meeting Charis Wilson had under the influence of High modernism focused on photographing various parts of the female body as High Modernist hyper-formalist structures, and it was only after meeting Charis Wilson that he started to focus on photographing her as a person who was posing against the background of various places in California.

Charis Wilson authored the application, a four-page narrative, signed by Weston.

For protection against the mosquitos, Charis Wilson had her head wrapped in a towel, which made her appear like a "Bedouin princess" who had been transplanted to Yosemite as only her face was visible.

Charis Wilson began a narrative of her travels with Weston, which was published the next year as Seeing California with Edward Weston.

Charis Wilson felt that she was as much of the author of Seeing California as Weston as she was the one who actually typed out the manuscript and her skill at writing vastly exceeded his.

Charis Wilson felt that she was not being given the credit she deserved as Weston's partner, especially since she was much better at writing than him, and that the books credited to him were in fact co-productions.

Charis Wilson continued to be fascinated with younger women and he devoted more and more time to his photography at the expense of their relationship.

Charis Wilson, in turn, was growing tired of putting his interests first.

Charis Wilson wanted to write more, and she wanted to connect with other people.

Charis Wilson became involved in documenting labor struggles in Northern California, and during her research she met a labor activist named Noel Harris.

Charis Wilson moved to Santa Cruz and lived close to her other daughter Rachel Fern Harris for the rest of her life.

In 1977 Charis Wilson wrote the introduction for a book of photographs, Edward Weston Nudes, which is sought after by collectors.