About this artwork
Within her seven-decade photographic career, Imogen Cunningham is perhaps best known for her work in the 1920s and 1930s: close, clear, abstract images of organic forms, particularly botanical specimens. Photographer Edward Weston, who coordinated the American section of the 1929 exhibition Film und Foto, a major German survey of international photographic modernism, selected eight of her plant studies to join the landmark exhibition. In 1932 Weston and Cunningham joined fellow California photographers in forming Group f/64, named after the aperture on a view camera that generated a maximally sharp image across the full depth of field. Cunningham had sent a set of photographs, including this print of the leaves of a giant honey bush, earlier that year to New York gallerist Julien Levy. Whereas this print features even tones on a matte-finish paper, subsequent prints of the image appear on the glossy, high-contrast paper favored by f/64 members.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Photography and Media
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Artist
- Imogen Cunningham
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Title
- Leaf Pattern
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1925–1929
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Medium
- Gelatin silver print
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed recto, on mount, lower right, below image, in graphite: "Imogen Cunningham"; verso unchecked
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Dimensions
- Image/paper: 29.5 × 22.6 cm (11 5/8 × 8 15/16 in.); Mount: 35.5 × 27.8 cm (14 × 11 in.)
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Credit Line
- Julien Levy Collection, Gift of Jean and Julien Levy
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Reference Number
- 1975.1135
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
