Imogen Cunningham: Flora

by Richard Lorenz, Imogen Cunningham (Photographer)

From the earliest years of her career, which began about 1906, until her death in 1976, photographer Imogen Cunningham explored botanical imagery with intelligence and originality. Her detailed examinations of nature combined scientific curiosity with the eloquent creative expression of a true artist.
Imogen Flora presents a stunning selection of Cunningham's botanical images dating from 1913 through the 1970s, with an emphasis on work from the 1920s and 1930s. More than half the images have never been published. In his illustrated essay, author Richard Lorenz discusses Cunningham's abiding amateur interest in botany and traces the evolution of her photographic imagery, which closely paralleled many of the technical and aesthetic developments of the twentieth century. Botanical notes on plants illustrated in the plates, a chronology of Cunningham's life, and a selected bibliography are included.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nature

Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book of Cunningham's botanical images, from the famous magnolia blossom to a few photos never before published. The essay is intelligent (I loved Lorenz's observation that the inclusion of a bowl of narcissus in her early self-portrait may have quite a pointed, self reflective meaning and his explanation about the rank, rotting smell of the voodoo lily Cunningham photographed alongside her own 89-year-old hand) and the reproductions are of very high quality. There are even a few color photos included, but the standouts for me are her black and whites.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cunningham's high-contrast black and white photographs of plants are her best known, and the few color images seem to pale in comparison. She was a tiny powerhouse of a photographer.

[Lauren King]

Boss

[Kathleen Messmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imogene Cunningham is one of the inspirations for my own work and I was happy to read about her process; not just as a photographer, but as a woman in the early 20th century.