Imogen Cunningham: Portraiture [Paperback]

Richard Lorenz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

Imogen Cunningham was one of photography's early pioneers, a Seattle-born virtuoso whose brilliant portraits and still lifes helped to establish the medium as an art form. This book collects the best of Cunningham's portrait work - over 200 images, more than half of which were first published in the hardcover edition. Portraiture was Cunningham's first love and foremost specialty and her subjects, captured with stringent clarity and astuteness, include some of the century's best-known artists, photographers, writers and other notables. Ansel Adams, Man Ray, Frida Kahlo, Gertrude Stein, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, Somerset Maugham and Anna Freud were among the thousands of individuals she photographed throughout her career. Her photo files also form an illuminating account of her own life - a compelling picture history comprising portraits of herself, her family and friends. In an illustrated essay accompanying the images, Richard Lorenz discusses Cunningham's approach to portraiture, influences on her work and comparable work by other important photographers. A chronology of Cunningham's life and a selected bibliography are also included.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This sumptuous book, a tribute to one of the most talented photographers of the American West, includes over 250 beautifully reproduced portraits selected from the thousands Cunningham made over her long and prolific career. Cunningham was one of photography's earliest advocates of medium-format photography, and the flexibility of her small, twin-lens camera is clearly evident in the relaxed, almost spontaneous tone of her work. Cunningham's refreshingly informal approach results in a collection of open, honest portraits of the notable people of her time, including Dorothea Lange, Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, and Gary Grant. Along with the quiet dignity that pervades her work, there is an abiding sense of humanity and a touch of whimsy. Lorenz (Imogen Cunningham: Flora, LJ 5/1/96) furnishes a fine account of the artist's approach to portraiture, a detailed biography of her work, and a helpful time line. Essential for libraries with major art and photography collections and highly recommended for all others.?Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Cunningham (1883^-1976) made portraits of some of the century's most interesting artists, actors, and writers. Her admirers have long waited, however, for a book adequately showcasing her range as a portraitist and reproducing some of the hundreds of less-familiar portraits in her archives. Lorenz deserves high praise for ending the wait by bringing 220 intelligently chosen and sequenced plates to light. He contributes an informative essay, too, that takes Cunningham very seriously, as not everyone else has done, including herself, for she had a wry, self-deprecating humor and declined to self-mythologize. The "problem" with Cunningham was her versatility. She is not easy to categorize as a portraitist, for she had no formulas and responded to each subject freshly, posing them, carefully or candidly, sometimes in sunlight; sometimes in soft, controlled light; sometimes up close; and sometimes in a telling environment. Consistent are her genuine interest in each person's uniqueness, her strong sense of design, and her ability to use light dramatically. Even collections including every other Cunningham book should add this one. Gretchen Garner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821227327
• ISBN-13: 978-0821227329
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,130,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eclectic Styles and Some Riveting Portraits, April 29, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Imogen Cunningham: Portraiture (Paperback)

The superb essay by Richard Lorenz explains the genesis of Ms. Cunningham's career, the influences on her work, how her styles developed, how she sought work, and the challenges that she faced as a person and as an artist. The essay is of such quality that it raises the overall value of the book. Two of Ms. Cunningham's weaknesses were tendencies to misuse shadow and to blur where clarity would have worked better. Many of the images in this book are marred by these routine flaws. On the other hand, there are enough rewarding works to make owning this volume a treat. You will probably find yourself strongly favoring a third of the images over the rest. If you are a fan of her nude work, I think you will find many of the portraits disappointing. I did like them better than the floral images she produced.

This book contains 208 duotone plates, 50 black and white images, and 13 color plates. All of the color plates looked a little peculiar. Something is off in the reproduction of them. It almost looked like an error in the color registration by the printer.

Ms. Cunningham's best efforts were generally of people in her family, or those she had great respect or affection for. When her connection to the person was modest, often the results were too. Generally, the more elaborate the composition, the better the result except when shadows were involved. For that reason, her outdoor portraits in full sun turned out best.

My favorite images in this book (as reproduced here) include:

My Father at Sixty, 1906; Mother and Child, Germany, 1909-1910; My Mother Peeling Apples, about 1910; The Dream, 1910; Roi Partridge, 1915; My Father, about 1918; Dane Coolidge, about 1921; Roger Sturtevant, about 1922; Sherwood Anderson, Writer 2, about 1923; Gertrude Gerrish, 1924; Henry Cowell, 1926; Portrait of Portia Hume, about 1930; Frances Dee, 1932; The Pareeckh Sisters from India, early 1930s; Robert Irwin, 1933; Alfred Stieglitz, 1934; Herbert Hoover 2, 1935; My Father at Ninety, 1936; Shen Yao, 1938; Edward Weston at Point Lobos 2, 1945; Woman in Sorrow, 1964; Brassai, 1973; Ansel Adams, Photographer 2, 1975; Morris Graves in His Leek Garden, 1972; Dr. Maria Kolisch, 1973; and Roi Patridge and Horse's Skull, 1975.

After you examine this book, I suggest that you think about what you want to learn and feel from a portrait. Do you want to know how the person liked to portray him or herself? Do you want to see a pawn within the photographer's style? Do you want to understand the person's personality? Then, go back and look at these images and think about what Ms. Cunningham has captured in each case.

As Mr. Lorenz says in his essay, even before a negative is retouched, "lighting manipulates and obfuscates reality," the "environmental context of the photograph modulates its connective power," and the "theatrics of makeup and costume alter fact and validate illusions." Where do you see these effects?

If you are like me, you will find the double exposure work interesting . . . capturing a sense of the fourth dimension of time. Many of the works will remind you of Marcel Duchamp's work, with which Ms. Cunningham was quite familiar.

Capture reality past the poser's projection . . . and add truth!