Existing comment:
Imogen Cunningham, 1883-1976
Imogen Cunningham made this self-portrait around the time she joined Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and other San Francisco photographers to promote photography as a fine art. Cunningham and her friends called their group "f/64," in reference to the smallest opening of a camera lens, which rendered the greatest range of tone. The name also reveals the group's distinctive aesthetic, for at this setting, cameras produce images that are crisp, bright, and sharply focused. Her self-portrait embodies this vision, as well as her own interest in close studies of nature and its tactile elements, such as the weather-beaten wood surface behind her and the textures of her camera and soft hat. Though short-lived, f/64 became extraordinarily influential as generations of photographers adopted the standards that Cunningham, Weston, and Adams pioneered.
1933 |