"For Myself": Nudes by Imogen Cunningham, 1906-1939
February 13 – May 1, 2016
Study Gallery and Print Study Center
Imogen Cunningham (1883–1976) was an internationally recognized American Modernist photographer whose career spanned most of the 20th century. “For Myself": Nudes by Imogen Cunningham, 1906-1939, features the artist’s nude studies of herself, various models, friends and family. The exhibition opens Feb. 13 and continues through May 1, 2016, in the Study Gallery and Print Study Center at Willamette University’s Hallie Ford Museum of Art.
The exhibition is curated by Abigail Susik, Assistant Professor of Art History at Willamette University, and author of the illustrated exhibition brochure. The survey includes 33 photographs and archival material drawn from the Imogen Cunningham Trust as well as recent additions to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art collection. Four Willamette University undergraduates acted as curatorial assistants for the exhibition.
Susik says, “Cunningham is arguably one of the two most celebrated modern artists from Oregon, along with Mark Rothko. The exhibition commemorates Cunningham’s very first museum exhibition in 1914 at the Portland Art Museum, which was a remarkable feat for a young woman at that time. We want to draw attention to the fact that one of the quintessential artists of international Modernism found her initial professional support and artistic inspiration right here, in the Pacific Northwest — and that even after achieving far flung success, she remained firmly rooted in this region and ever enamored of its charms.”
Exhibition Related Events
Personal Reflections on My Grandmother: Imogen Cunningham
Meg Partridge, Director of the Imogen Cunningham Trust
Feb. 19, 2016 | 12:40 - 1:40 p.m.
Room 122, Ford Hall, Willamette University (located near the corner of State & 12th Streets)
Free and open to the public
Meg Partridge, granddaughter of Imogen Cunningham and Director of her archive, the Imogen Cunningham Trust, will share some of her recollections of the personal side of Imogen and discuss some of Imogen’s prodigious work, which covered 75 years of photography, from 1901 to 1976.
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Opening Reception and Dance Performance
Feb. 19, 2016 | 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art
Remarks | 6:30 p.m.
Abigail Susik, Assistant Professor of Art History and Exhibition Curator
Meg Partridge, Director of the Imogen Cunningham Trust
Dance Performance | 6:50 p.m.
Steps in Time, a dance performance that imagines a "conversation" between Imogen Cunningham and the Modernist dance artist Martha Graham. Choreographed by Willamette University visiting professors Michele Ainza and Jessi Fouts, the dance will be performed by the Willamette University dancers with costumes designed by Bobby Brewer-Wallin, associate professor and co-chair of the Theatre Department.
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Tuesday Gallery Talks
Feb. 23 | 12:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art
Free and open to the public
Join exhibition curator Dr. Abigail Susik for a guided tour of the exhibition.
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An Evening of Films with Imogen Cunningham
March 1, 2016 at 7 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
Free and open to the public
The Bed, Directed by James Broughton (1968, 20 minutes)
Imogen Cunningham: Photographer, Directed by John Korty (1972,
23 minutes)
Never Give Up: Imogen Cunningham, Directed by Ann Hershey
(2011, 30 minutes)
Please note that some of these films contain images of nudity.
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Lecture | The Experimental Nature of Imogen Cunningham
Celina Lunsford, Artistic Director, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany
March 14, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
Free and open to the public
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Tuesday Gallery Talks
March 29 | 12:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art
Free and open to the public
Join museum docent Sandra Resis for a guided tour of the exhibition.
Exhibition Brochure
A complimentary tri-fold brochure with an essay by Dr. Abigail Susik accompanies the exhibition.
Financial support for this exhibition
Has been provided by the Verda Karen McCracken Young Exhibition Fund of the Department of Art History at Willamette University; by a "Learning by Creating" Grant, funded by the Mellon Foundation; and by general operating support grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.
![Imogen Cunningham, [italics]Self-portrait[/italics], 1906.](cunningham-gallery/original/1.png)