Calla Leaves
1920s (printed 1971)
Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883-1976)
Not on View

Imogen Cunningham made seemingly simple photographs from elements in the vicinity of her home environment. During the 1920s and 1930s, informed by the straight photography ethos that inspired Edward Weston and other members of Group f/64, of which she was a charter member, Cunningham created stark, geometrically styled close-ups of plants that are visually arresting. The photographer’s earlier allegiance to soft-focus portraits and allegorical woodland themes are nowhere evident in these sharply observed plant forms, which are truly modern. The beautifully orchestrated prints reveal Cunningham’s desire to apprehend the essence of each plant’s form. And, like a portrait, the isolation and context-free presentation allows the artist to capture the plants’ personalities and distinguishing characteristics.

Details

  • Artist Name: Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883-1976)
  • Title: Calla Leaves
  • Date: 1920s (printed 1971)
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 9-1/2 x 7-3/8 in. (24.1 x 18.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of the Artist to the Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
  • Accession Number: PH.1971.150
  • Copyright: © Imogen Cunningham Trust; all copyright permissions must be obtained through the Imogen Cunningham Trust (www.imogencunningham.com).

Object Information

Nature as Muse: Prints, Watercolors and Photographs from the Seventeenth Through the Twentieth Centuries

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1996-01-11 to 1997-05-25

A Precise Vision: Photography from the Galka Scheyer Collection

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-09-22 to 1996-04-28

Significant Objects: The Spell of Still Life

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2012-07-20 to 2013-01-21

The Collectible Moment: Photographs in the Norton Simon Museum

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2006-10-13 to 2007-02-26

From Europe to California: Galka Scheyer and the Avant-Garde

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-16 to 2003-10-13
  • The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 350
  • Imogen Cunningham: Frontiers. Photographs. 1906-1976, 1978, no. 57
  • Lorenz, Richard, Imogen Cunningham: Ideas without End. A Life in Photographs, 1993, pl. 69
  • Lorenz, Richard, Imogen Cunningham: Flora, 1996, pl. 54
  • Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 454 p. 449
  • Gloria Williams, The Collectible Moment: Catalogue of Photographs in the Norton Simon Museum, 2006, cat. 159 p. 165

Additional Artwork by Artist

Agave Imogen Cunningham 1920s (printed 1971)
Black and White Lilies Imogen Cunningham 1920s (printed 1971)
Black Lily Imogen Cunningham 1920s (printed 1971)

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