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Imogen CunninghamMagnolia Blossom1929
1929
About the Item
This supremely elegant photograph illustrates why Imogen Cunningham’s botanical pictures are a keystone of modernist photography. In the 1920s, Cunningham was living in Oakland and was largely confined to her home while raising her three small children. She had worked in the botany department at the University of Washington, and she used that knowledge to cultivate a garden that would supply close-at-hand subjects that could fulfill her drive to create. This work exemplifies her move away from the soft focus of her early pictorialist work, and her embrace of the crystal clear imagery that made her, and the other Group f/64 photographers, widely influential.
In 1929, the seminal Film und Foto (FIFO) exhibition was held in Stuttgart, and served as a platform for the modernist vision of “New Photography”. Edward Weston, another key Group f/64 photographer, included eight of Cunningham's botanical photographs in his nomination for inclusion in the show. As a result, this classic picture debuted in that landmark exhibition.
This print comes with an excellent provenance - from the Lee Witkin Gallery, to a close relative of Witkin's. The Witkin Gallery opened in 1969 and was instrumental in situating fine art photography both in the context of the larger art world as well as within the nascent market for photography.
This gelatin silver print, printed in the 1970s, measures 10 3/4 x 13 5/8 inches, on a mount measuring 14 3/4 x 20 inches. It has an embossed signature on the mount, and a Cunningham Trust label on verso.
- Creator:Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976, American)
- Creation Year:1929
- Dimensions:Height: 14.75 in (37.47 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU302213467542
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham occupies a singular position in the history of American art of the 20th century. For over half the history of photography, she explored, with innovation and a new perspective, all the major traditions associated with the medium as fine art. She has been most widely acclaimed for the photographs made during the 1920s and 1930s, particularly close-up images of plants and nudes. She also made portraits which are now considered classics in photography, including images of Alfred Stieglitz, Spencer Tracy and Martha Graham. She was a founding member of the West Coast-based Group f.64, which championed an un-manipulated, direct approach with the camera, or “straight” photography. Her photographs are represented in major collections and museums around the world.
(Biography provided by Weston Gallery)
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