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Lot Essay
Imogen Cunningham’s earliest photographs of nude figures date back to 1910, when, still under the cloak of Pictorialism, she rendered her subjects with a painterly and impressionistic motif. The work of this period was emphatically romantic. The birth of Modernism changed the vocabulary in all the arts, and perhaps most starkly in photography. Starting in the late 1920s, and for the next decade, Cunningham embraced the clarity that typified Modernist photography of the period.
Cunningham’s nudes from this time, of which the current lot is an excellent example, are far more abstract and often de-familiarize the human body. As seen in this image, the nude body—neither romanticized nor sexualized—is folded into a conch-like pose. The extremities are tucked from view and the image is largely occupied by a large swath of unadorned flesh. It is a masterstroke in Modernist photography.
Another print of this image is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art.
Cunningham’s nudes from this time, of which the current lot is an excellent example, are far more abstract and often de-familiarize the human body. As seen in this image, the nude body—neither romanticized nor sexualized—is folded into a conch-like pose. The extremities are tucked from view and the image is largely occupied by a large swath of unadorned flesh. It is a masterstroke in Modernist photography.
Another print of this image is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art.