                                        
Images included in
published article by
Imogen Cunningham
Andrea Korff
Andrea Korff
Lydia Panas
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Ansel Adams, Alfred Steiglitz, and Imogen
Cunningham Ansel Adams, Alfred Steiglitz, and Imogen Cunningham For many of us, the history of art photography in America is synonymous with the names of such notable men as Ansel Adams, Alfred Steiglitz, and Eliot Porter. Yet, a young mother from California had a major impact on photography's history. Her name was Imogen Cunningham and her work set a new standard for modernism. Cunningham worked at her craft steadily and achieved her position as one of the most important photographers of her generation by capturing the flowers from her garden on film. From the basic floral forms, she transformed her subject into abstract images not unlike the grand flower paintings of her colleague, painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Cunningham took the form of a simple flower and produced a spectacular work of art.
New sales record for photograph Recently, Cunningham's photography turned the international art market on its head when her gelatin silver print, Magnolia Blossom: Tower of Jewels, 1925, sold at auction for $145,000, a new record. While Cunningham's image brought the highest prices ever paid for a photograph, the sale highlighted the strength of photography on the sales floor and demonstrated the interest in exhibiting modern photographs. From gelatin silver and platinum prints to cibachromes, ektachromes, and digital imagery, photographs are highly sought after and in high demand.
Two Pennsylvania photographers Photographers in our region work with various camera and lens types, developing and printing processes and innovative techniques. Many established photographers continue the tradition of modernism spearheaded by Cunningham. For instance, two Pennsylvania photographers have used Cunningham's basic formula and modern brand of photography to cultivate their own unique styles. In this article, contemporary photography is exemplified by the work of two innovative contemporary photographers, Andrea Korff and Lydia Panas, who share similar stylistic roots with varying results. Both Korff and Panas demonstrate the way that contemporary photography has focused on tradition and simplicity and then moved beyond. Their subjects, like many photographers, draw upon a basic view of art as depicting the landscape, the portrait, and/or the still life. Like Imogen Cunningham, a photographer's individual "eye" or viewpoint of a typical subject can result in great art.
Both artists illustrate that a major aspect of art photography is simplicity. Both of these photographers begin their work with recognizable, even typical, subjects from their own experience. With a good knowledge of modern art and an eye for the image, Andrea Korff's images begin with the basic and employ a similar approach to that of Cunningham's flowers. Korff's photographs derive from a familiar place for the amateur or the professional photographer: the travel photograph. With an intriguing sense of the contemporary, Korff offers viewers a comfort zone as a starting place for the viewer to address her own work. She draws in the viewer with the familiar and then, joins them on a journey of light and shadow. Her gelatin silver print, Galileo's Pardon, is masterful in its juxtaposition of sculpture and sphere, atmosphere and architecture. Korff's landscape composition provides a commentary on photography and art, for that matter, as the people at the center of the image are dwarfed by the artistic structures on both sides. The image, thus, refers to the attitude that architecture and sculpture, both symbols of the arts, are lasting in both historical and human terms. Once again, Korff looks back to the art history's roots and selects an age-old image type, the mother and child, for her contemporary shot in the work, Luz de Madre. Using photographic manipulation techniques, the total effect of this portrait photo speaks to the continued interest in still photography and atmospheric imagery, a common trait of modernist Cunningham's work.
Similarly, Lydia Panas makes changes in the dark room with imagery that represents her children as central. She selects the objects of life (e.g, small hands, scraped knees, and baby's toes). The work, Untitled, introduces the viewer to a partial view of two of her children while capturing both curvilinear chalk lines and the contrasting geometry of a brick patio. Panas' composition does not deviate far from a traditional Dutch still life painting where juxtaposing objects (e.g., a cold metal spoon and a warm leg) are placed side by side and geometric forms are married to organic ones. These decisions, starting with the basics, bring the viewer initially into a familiar setting and then leave them wanting more of this special type of contemporary imagery.
The work of area photographers indicates both the progress and the prominence of photography in the scope of modern art. Contemporary photographs provide numerous options in imagery, starting with art's basics, that continue to pique our interest. Once again, artists have taught viewers a valuable lesson, Keep it Simple!
Dr. Lori Please feel free to contact me with questions and additional lecture information.
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