My father
1906; printed (1979)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
24.8 × 18.4 cm (image and sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1979
© 2023 Imogen Cunningham Trust / www.ImogenCunningham.com
Gallery location
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
Imogen Cunningham came from a very low-income family. Despite this, her father, Isaac Burns Cunningham, supported her interest in photography and built her a darkroom at their Seattle home. In this woodshed-darkroom, the teenage photographer, who purchased her first camera around 1901, aged eighteen, was able to start processing and developing her prints. Cunningham’s later portraits of her elderly parents at home are poised and respectful, showing the influence of the softly focused Pictorialist aesthetic.
Artwork Details
Inscription
artist chop mark on support l.c.: Imogen Cunningham
chop mark on support l.r.: (Chinese symbol)
chop mark (inverted) on support l.r.: STRATHMORE / USE EITHER SIDE (all in a circle)
typed on paper label on support reverse l.c.: My Father, 1906
printed on paper label on support reverse l.c.: PHOTOGRAPH BY / Imogen Cummingham / THE IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM TRUST / 862 Folsom Street, San Francisco, California 94107
Accession Number
PH116-1979
Department
International Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Bowness Family Foundation