A recent online article posted by the National Gallery of Victoria included a black and white photograph by American photographer Imogen Cunningham (1883 - 1976) which drew my attention for its sharpness of observation and clean abstract qualities. The challenge here is to condense a long career into a few paragraphs, but here goes.
Agave Design 1 1920's (NGV)
In 1901 she managed to save $15 and sent it off to a correspondence school in Pennsylvania. They sent her a camera and some glass plates and she started out on her own, and what followed was the longest photographic career in the history of the medium – 75 years. After graduating from the University of Washington with a major in chemistry, she was awarded a grant to study photographic chemistry in Dresden in 1909.
Magnolia Blossom 1925 (Artsy)
Raising three young children in the early 20th century meant that Cunningham was limited in her choice of subject matter. Whilst they slept during the afternoons, she would photograph plants in her garden. With regard to Agave Design 1 the NGV article discusses Cunningham arranging the leaves in a way that allowed her to create bold contrasts between light and dark. She seems to have created another reality by focussing on form, pattern and light.
On Oregon Beach 1967 (Artnet)
Cunningham was one of the first women to photograph the male nude and received much criticism for doing so. “I was described as an immoral woman.” She said she wanted everything in her photographs to be smoothly in focus, or if it’s out of focus it has to be for a reason. Also the quality of gradations and value is important. “In order to make a good photograph you have to be enthusiastic about it and think about it like a poet.”
Part of the reason for the longevity of her career is that in later years she began to print images that she had previously neglected because “your point of view changes.”After photographing the dancer and choreographer Martha Graham she was asked to go to Hollywood and when asked for her preferences, she said ugly men because “they don’t complain.”
Triangles Plus One 1928 (Artnet)
Her relationship with her theosophical leaning father was unusual, he once said to her “why do you go to school for so long just to be a dirty photographer?” Yet at the same time he made a very good darkroom for her in the woodshed.
“I don’t hunt for things (subject matter – I assume), I just wait until something strikes me. Of course I hunt for an impression when I photograph people……I do portraits because people pay me for them and I still have to live…… I’ve always been glad for a certain amount of poverty – all I want to do is live.”
Frida Kahlo 1931 (Artsy)
When photographing anyone who does something with their hands, she always wanted to include the hands.
Her work seems to be based on a certain formalism with a mixture of abstract and realist elements, but with an almost intuitive understanding of composition. Over the decades she produced a staggering body of work comprising bold, contemporary forms. There is a visual precision that is not scientific, but which presents the lines and textures of her subjects articulated by natural light and their own gestures. Her work has been described as refreshing, yet formal and sensitive. Her floral arrangements of the 1920’s ultimately became her most acclaimed images. Cunningham’s real artistic legacy was secured through her inclusion in the "F64" show in San Francisco in 1932 which included notable photographers including Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.
Awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, Cunningham’s work continues to be exhibited and collected around the world.
Imogen & Twinka, Yosemite 1974, photographed by Judy Dater
References;
National Gallery of Victoria
Museum of North West Art
Portrait of Imogen (1988) - directed by Meg Partridge