Work:
Cunningham was an advocate of 'straight' photography a movement which developed from the New Objectivity movement in Germany in the 1920s. In America the 'straight' photography group included Ansel Adams, Paul Strand, Edward Weston et al. She was a founder member of the f 64 movement which was titled after the very small aperture they preferred to use, as it afforded a wide depth of field and hence the image was sharp and detailed throughout.She has taken many pictures of flowers, buds which were often taken from her own garden. She took up photography from circa 1901. Cunningham was also interested in presenting photographys ability to present the ordinary daily event/ scene and elevating it to a significant and extraordinary occurance. She explores the theme in her Unmade Bed of presence by absence, the viewer images the history of the bed and what is implied by the objects left within the photographic space. Photographic depictions of the body in the war and post war era still referred to the female form (e.g. Weston, Steichen) and Cunningham can be seen to adhere to this code. But unlike the previous code of making the body stand for an allegorical statement e.g. Kasebier, Khuhn, Holland Day etc. Cunningham presented an objective stance to show an interest in composition, light and shade, perspective and the effects of close up images making the body an abstract pattern (e.g. Triangles). The f 64 group were not afraid to record fragments and to make the image at times difficult to read. Cunningham experimented with dance photography with her experimental work with the ballet dancer Martha Graham, the images produced suggest that the two artists found inspiration from working together and led to a specific performance for the camera.