Imogen Cunningham
Martha Graham, c. 1931
Gelatin silver print
7-1/2 - 5-5/8
Private collection
–Martha Graham
She danced and taught for over seventy years. Graham was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, in the 1994 documentary The Dancer Revealed, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable." More on Martha Graham
Imogen Cunningham
Gelatin silver print
7-1/2 - 5-5/8
Private collection
Imogen Cunningham (April 12, 1883 – June 23, 1976) was
an American photographer known for her botanical photography, nudes, and
industrial landscapes. Cunningham was a member of the California-based Group
f/64, known for its dedication to the sharp-focus rendition of simple subjects.
It was not
until 1906, while studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, that she
was inspired to take up photography again by an encounter with the work of
Gertrude Käsebier. With the help of her chemistry professor, Horace Byers, she
began to study the chemistry behind photography and she subsidized her tuition
by photographing plants for the botany department.
Imogen Cunningham
Martha Graham #35 ,1931
7-1/2 - 5-5/8
Private collection
In 1907
Cunningham went to work for Edward S. Curtis in his Seattle studio, gaining
knowledge about the portrait business and practical photography. She worked on
his project of documenting American Indian tribes for the book The North
American Indian
In 1909,
Cunningham was awarded the Pi Beta Phi Graduate Fellowship. Using this
fellowship, Cunningham traveled to Germany to study with Professor Robert
Luther at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. In May 1910, she
finished her paper describing her process to increase printing speed, improve
clarity of highlights tones, and produce sepia tones.
In
Seattle, Cunningham opened a studio and won acclaim for portraiture and
pictorial work. She became a sought-after photographer and exhibited at the
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1913. In 1914, Cunningham's
portraits were shown at An International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in
New York. Wilson's Photographic Magazine published a portfolio of her work.
In the
1940s, Cunningham turned to documentary street photography. In 1945, Cunningham
was invited by Ansel Adams to accept a position as a faculty member for the art
photography department at the California School of Fine Arts.
Cunningham
continued to take photographs until shortly before her death at age 93, on June
23, 1976, in San Francisco, California.
Cunningham was named Imogen after the heroine of
Shakespeare's Cymbeline. More on Imogen
Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Martha Graham
7-1/2 - 5-5/8
Private collection
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