Customer Reviews

Imogen Cunningham: Ideas without End A Life and Photographs

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Ideas Without End provides a great introduction to Imogen Cunningham's work. It includes a short biography, but focuses mainly on the plethora of beautiful pictures, showing a wide selection of them. Cunningham's photos are the kind that draw you into them, and bring you to the realization that a flower is so much more than just a flower, that there is more to a body than just nudity, and that everyday items possess a beauty of their own. The format is a bit unhandy, but the contents more than make up for that. In short, the book is an experience not to be missed.

I can remember shedding some tears when Ms. Cunningham died. She was a hero of mine in the 70's when I was in college studying photography. This is a good overview of her work. Ms. Cunningham was never the greatest photographer of her generation, or any other. However, some of her photography is great. No, what made Ms. Cunningham great was the amazing length of her career and her willingness, until nearly the end of her life, to extend herself and experiment with new things. How many photographers have basically petered out when they have achieved some fame, to spend decades just printing their old work? Not Imogen--she indeed spoke with some bitterness near the end of her life about the unrecognized years in her career. She was unique, particularly for today--a woman who practiced environmental portraiture, going to people's homes and businesses to photograph them. She lived a lifestyle close to penury, yet her life can serve as an illustration to all of us exactly how little having money means to full and rich life. For me growing up, she showed how the love of photography can be separated from the preciousness of 'fine art'--all the while creating fine art. I'd recommend as a companion to this book, the volume "Portrait of Imogen", long out of print. It was compiled by Judy Dater, herself a fine photographer. It is a book of interviews with Imogen's contemporaries and a great insight into this complicated personality. In the end, and particularly after nearly thirty years since her death, Ms. Cunningham still earns notice as one of photography's greatest personalities.