Imogen Cunningham

(American, 1883-1976) Imogen Cunningham was a Northwest-born photographer whose distinguished career spanned nearly 70 years.  After taking up photography in 1901 she received a degree in chemistry at the University of Washington and also worked with Edward Curtis.  Early examples of Imogen’s work included self-portraits and figurative work between the years of 1910 and 1915, including nudes of her husband on Mt. Rainier – labeled as scandalous by the local newspaper. In 1917 she moved to the San Francisco area with her husband, artist Roi Partridge and raised three sons. Imogen’s most prolific years were in California with striking examples of modernist architecture, botanical, nude, and portrait images. Imogen Cunningham’s work has been collected over the years by many national and international art museums, including the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Seattle Art Museum.