Skunk Cabbage
1942, Oil, 12" x 16"

"He painted skunk cabbages even when the galleries declared them out of season. His late wife once asked him ‘Why not paint something that people like?’

And Weston, hard at work on another skunk cabbage, replied: ‘I don’t have to paint what people like. I’ve got my living.’"(22)

Despite his early success, Weston only sold ‘one or two’ of his sketches over a 30 year period later in his career. The art world took on new directions, and newer artists turned their attention to other, urban themes.(23) Weston continued to paint his favorite subjects including, as this newspaper article notes, skunk cabbage.

With a secure income from his teaching career, he didn’t have to bow to the pressure of the changing appetite of art audiences and buyers for the sake of commercial sales. "Weston felt the need to succeed in art but his desire to express the rawness and wildness of the Coast consumed him."(24)