Imogen Cunningham

Pioneering Northwest photographer Imogen Cunningham taught herself photography at the age of 18. Since there was no degree in the field in the early 1900s, she pursued a degree in chemistry from the University of Washington while working in the Seattle studio of photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952). After graduation she spent a year in Europe then visited major cities on the East Coast before returning to Seattle and establishing her own photography business. Her studio became a gathering place for Seattle’s progressive artists, many of whom served as models for her soft-focused compositions based on poetry and literature as well as Japanese aesthetics.

Cunningham relocated to California in 1918. From 1932 to 1934 she photographed politicians and Hollywood movie stars for the magazine Vanity Fair. She also continued to create her own artistic work and was a founding member of an important San Francisco-based photography collective, Group f/64 that advocated straight photography, that is pictures that weren’t dependent on technical manipulation in the darkroom.

Her estate is represented by the Imogen Cunningham Trust. For additional biography and images visit https://www.imogencunningham.com/biography

[accessed November 2017]