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Imogen Cunningham: Ideas without End: A Life and Photographs
From bold, evocative nudes to starkly beautiful still lifes, Imogen Cunningham's pioneering work has garnered worldwide acclaim. One of the first women to make her living as a photographer, Cunningham consistently experimented with a wide range of techniques during her remarkable career. Ideas without End offers the first complete retrospective of 100 of her photographs -- the majority of which have never been published -- from her earliest efforts at the turn of the century to the many now-famous images. A biographical essay by Richard Lorenz, a chronology of Cunningham's life and work, and a bibliography are also included in this superb collection, at once a beautiful portfolio and an enduring tribute to a gifted and compelling artist.
- GenresPhotographyArt
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2016
The text tells Cunningham’s story – her Seattle origins and her involvement as a woman in early photography, as art.
In his essay Lorenz comments that Lissette Model’s photographic style had an “undercurrent of mean spiritedness” and that critics said her, Model's, student, Diane Arbus, “trespassed the boundaries between private and public domains.” This was in contrast to Cunningham who, he says, “chose to present her subjects in a lighter, more comic spirit.”
When she focused on preserving her photographs late in life, Cunningham said that “Printing is the hardest and most boring part of photography.” As a “grande-dame” of photography, Lorenz quotes her as saying that “People are consuming me, especially the young students” who ask her to look at their work “and I look over hundreds of photographs that are very uninteresting to me.”
The black and white photographic plates are presented nicely. For the most part, I liked the shadowy feel, the simple lines and the straight-on, uncluttered content. The portrait of Frida Kahlo is perfect; the picture of a smiling Herbert Hoover and his dog is terrific, as is the picture of “My Father at Ninety.” I didn’t care for her experiments (?) with double exposures.
In his essay Lorenz comments that Lissette Model’s photographic style had an “undercurrent of mean spiritedness” and that critics said her, Model's, student, Diane Arbus, “trespassed the boundaries between private and public domains.” This was in contrast to Cunningham who, he says, “chose to present her subjects in a lighter, more comic spirit.”
When she focused on preserving her photographs late in life, Cunningham said that “Printing is the hardest and most boring part of photography.” As a “grande-dame” of photography, Lorenz quotes her as saying that “People are consuming me, especially the young students” who ask her to look at their work “and I look over hundreds of photographs that are very uninteresting to me.”
The black and white photographic plates are presented nicely. For the most part, I liked the shadowy feel, the simple lines and the straight-on, uncluttered content. The portrait of Frida Kahlo is perfect; the picture of a smiling Herbert Hoover and his dog is terrific, as is the picture of “My Father at Ninety.” I didn’t care for her experiments (?) with double exposures.
January 8, 2022
Flipping through the photo plates, I was most captivated by her close-up images of plants. Her "botanical" works. These are like drawings from an identification field book, in the best way.
The other photos felt ordinary to me, with only the odd shot here and there causing my eye to linger (an exception being the cover photo, with the grays in the folded sheets).
Then I read the text by Richard Lorenz, a trustee of the I.C. Trust, and was taken in by the ordinary and extraordinary life of Imogen, anchored to the US west coast but with travels to Europe and NYC.
I then began to flip through the photos again, but with a new emotional sensitivity and intellectual appreciation for Imogen and her images.
Note: Took one star off because the book itself isnt holding up well, with the glue cracking and the pages nearly undone.
The other photos felt ordinary to me, with only the odd shot here and there causing my eye to linger (an exception being the cover photo, with the grays in the folded sheets).
Then I read the text by Richard Lorenz, a trustee of the I.C. Trust, and was taken in by the ordinary and extraordinary life of Imogen, anchored to the US west coast but with travels to Europe and NYC.
I then began to flip through the photos again, but with a new emotional sensitivity and intellectual appreciation for Imogen and her images.
Note: Took one star off because the book itself isnt holding up well, with the glue cracking and the pages nearly undone.
July 9, 2019
El extenso corpus del trabajo de Cunningham es insoslayable, si se estudia la historia de la fotografía; y en esta bio se dan datos relevantes, de forma amena, junto con imágenes claves para entender la obra de esta maestra de la foto.
May 19, 2007
When I discovered Imogen Cunningham I saw the type of life I wanted to live. She did her own thing and captured amazing images. I want to be able to see like her.
The cover photo of this book makes we wonder about the setting, the story and what happened next.
The cover photo of this book makes we wonder about the setting, the story and what happened next.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews