Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham’s earliest work shows the influence of early twentieth-century Pictorialism, however, by the 1920s she started working in the geometric style of straight photography, with the sharp linearity and vivid light of European Modernism, for which she became best known. She became a member of Edward Weston and Ansel Adams’ f/64 group in 1932, championing photography as an art form. Through her work, Cunningham sought to expose the visually profound in the mundane, focusing in particular on texture and light. She became particularly interested in photographing flowers and abstracting the shapes of the petals and leaves. In the 1940s, Cunningham turned to street photography and more traditional documentary photography, which continued to be a focus for the remainder of her career.

Born in 1883 in Oregon, United States, Cunningham studied at the University of Washington and the  Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. Cunningham is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her work has been the subject of exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Seattle Art Museum and the Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among others.