Imogen Cunningham
Two Callas
1929

Name: Two Callas
Brand: Imogen Cunningham
Price: 12000 USD
Availability: InStock

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 Two Callas 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, made by the artist in 1974, measures 11.5 x 9 inches, on a mount measuring 19 x 15 inches. It is signed and dated on the mount, and bears a Witkin Gallery label on verso.

Creator:

Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976, American)

Creation Year:

1929

Dimensions:

Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)

Medium:

Silver Gelatin

Period:

1920-1929

Condition:

Gallery Location: