Leaf Pattern
Photograph
Leaf Pattern
ca. 1927
Gelatin silver print
Image: 11 9/16 × 8 15/16 in. (29.4 × 22.7 cm)
Paper: 14 × 11 in. (35.5 × 28 cm)
Matted: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Purchase
1977.0760.0060
Inscriptions Signed in pencil on recto beneath image, BR: Imogen Cunningham
TextUnlike Anna Atkins, Imogen Cunningham was not interested in documenting plants as specimens for study. Cunningham approached her botanical subjects as a modernist, using light and form to create a work of art. Her close-up views render the plant abstract by removing any context or surroundings. The crisp, unmanipulated photographic style was typical for Cunningham and the other members of Group f/64, of which she was a founding member.
