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33
CUNNINGHAM, IMOGEN (1883-1976)
Dancer. Silver print, 13 1/4x9 3/4 inches (33.7x24.8 cm.), with Cunningham's signature, in pencil, on mount recto, and a stylized hand stamp on verso. Circa 1910
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Notes: an early and probably unique exhibition print by cunningham that descends from her family. Imogen Cunningham was an important artistic figure who explored a wide array of subjects and techniques. Her first photographs, such as this image, were strongly influenced by Pre-Raphaelite poetry and painting. Like the great Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron, she too created fairy-tale tableaux, employing family members and fellow artists, depicting a romanticized medieval world.
Cunningham's allegorical photographs were inspired by the writings of William Morris and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Indeed, this image may be seen as a direct visual depiction of the verses of both writers' works, especially Swinburne's "A Ballad of Life":
I found in dreams a place of wind and flowers,
Full of sweet trees and colour of glad grass,
In midst whereof there was A lady clothed like summer with sweet hours.
Her beauty, fervent as a fiery moon,
Made my blood burn and swoon
Like a flame rained upon.
Sorrow had filled her shaken eyelids' blue,
And her mouth's sad red heavy rose all through
Seemed sad with glad things gone.
Cunningham worked in this pictorial style for only a short period of time. Later on, when she moved from Seattle to San Francisco, she adopted a more modernist depiction of her world.
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February 14, 2005 12:00 AM EST
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