Accession Number
1996/1.78

Title
Martha Graham 42

Artist(s)
Imogen Cunningham

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1931

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
5 15/16 in x 7 7/8 in (15.1 cm x 20 cm);14 3/8 in x 19 7/16 in (36.5 cm x 49.3 cm)

Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Helmut Stern

Subject matter
Imogen Cunningham began photographing at age 18 after seeing Gertrude Käsebier’s work. Throughout her career, she photographed a diverse range of subjects, including nudes, botanical photographs, street photography, and freelance work. Around 1920, Cunningham relocated to San Francisco and began working on her botanical photographs, focusing on producing studies of the magnolia between 1923 and 1925. In 1931, Cunningham met Martha Graham and produced ninety graflex negatives. Two of these images were her first to be published in Vanity Fair. 

Physical Description
This photograph depicts a woman standing in stark lighting and stretching knit fabric over her naked torso. 

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Figures
Portraits
clothing
dancers
half-length
modern and contemporary art
nudes (representations)
pose
woman