Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland, Oregon in 1883. The artist grew up in Seattle, Washington and attended the University of Washington majoring in chemistry after she was advised by her professor that she should have a scientific background if she wanted to be a photographer. After graduation Imogen worked in the Seattle portrait studio of Edward S. Curtis where she learned the techniques of platinum printing printing. In 1909 she was awarded a grant to study photographic chemistry in Dresden. Upon returning from Germany, she opened a small portrait studio in Seattle. She was the only photographer who was a charter member of the Society of Seattle Artists. Imogen's first published article was titled, "Photography as a Profession for Women" in which she encouraged women to take up careers in this profession. In 1914, her first one-person exhibition was held at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Miss Cunningham was included in the Pictorial Photographic Society Exhibition at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
During the war years she sold her house in Oakland and used a friend's studio and darkroom in San Francisco, preparing for a permanent studio in San Francisco. Imogen established a studio in her home and during the next thirteen years her work was exhibited across the country and she continued her street photography when not making portraits. Imogen taught intermittently at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The International Museum of Photography, at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, purchased a major retrospective collection of her work. Imogen used the money to travel and photograph in both Western and Eastern Europe. The Library of Congress purchased a collection of her work and the photographic publisher, Aperture, published a monograph of her work. Notably, and respectively, Imogen Cunningham was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland. The Smithsonian Institution purchased a major collection of her work. Miss Imogen Cunningham passed away on June 23, 1976, at the age of 93.
____________________
All images property of The Imogen Cunningham Trust | Copyright 2013