Imogen Cunningham Research Paper

1150 Words3 Pages

Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer who was from Portland, Oregon. Family and friends remember Imogen as an “independent sprit.” She photographed industrial landscapes, nudes and botany. Her earliest prints were made in the tradition of Pictorialism. Pictorialism is a style of photography that imitated academic paintings. However, Imogen Cunningham is best known for her sharp-focus photographs of plants.
Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland Oregon on April 12th 1883. Her father, Isaac Cunningham, named Imogen after the heroine of Shakespeare’s play, “Cymbeline.” When she was a child and even before she formally started school, Cunningham’s father taught her how to read and gave her art lessons. He thought it was important for her to learn things before school even started. Cunningham did well in school and went on to attend the University of Washington where she majored in Chemistry. While at the University of Washington, Cunningham developed an interest in photography. Her university chemistry teacher told her if she wanted to be a photographer she needed a scientific background. This scientific background explains Cunningham’s interest in nature and botanical close-ups.
After she graduated from collage, …show more content…

These things included: nudes, celebrities, street photography and industrial landscapes. Yet, Imogen Cunningham was most famous for her botany photographs followed by her nudes. She is known as one of the greatest American women photographers not only because of her talent but also because she helped develop modern photography in America. In history, Imogen Cunningham has the longest interest in photography because she started photography at such a young age of 18. Over the course of her lifetime, she was able to photograph many things and build a well-known, thoughtful career with her best-known work being her sharp focus in the photography of

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