Essay on Meeting Imogen Cunningham, by David Noah Giles

With Imogen Cunningham at her one woman show at the De Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden gate Park in 1971©In 1971 I was enrolled at California College of Arts and Crafts CCAC in Oakland California located in the Rockridge neighborhood. I was an art student majoring in painting. I was skeptical as to whether photography was a true art form. I was only 20 years old at the time, when it came to art, music philosophy and history, I would describe myself as an iconoclast. I decided to take a history of photography class in order to draw my own conclusions. Jack Welpott taught the class of about 15 students. He was our knowledgeable guide to the history of photography as well as a dedicated fine art photographer himself.

 I learned about Matthew Brady who was a pioneer of the technique of the Daguerreotype he visually chronicled the Civil War including scenes of the troops, portraits of Lincoln and his generals. I also learned to appreciate the work and the artistry of Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Ansel Adams. I had recently camped out at Yosemite National Park for the first time during a summer hitchhiking exploration of the natural wonders of The Golden State. Adam's Black and white photographs conveyed the magnificent splendor of this awe inspiring National Park.After a couple of weeks of listening to Mr. Welpotts  lectures and reviewing's slides of great photographs I became convinced of photography's viability as a true art form. There is certainly is a vast difference between snapshots taken by amateur photographers and fine art photography of the masters. A great photographer develops a mastery of composition and light as well as choice of subject matter distinguishes them. The best were as skilled, dedicated, inspired, gifted, eccentric, and idiosyncratic as any good painter.The highlight of the class was when we got to meet Imogene Cunningham the great photographer and Proto – Feminist. She was having a one woman show at the De Young museum located near the band shell in Golden Gate Park. Fortunately, my teacher Jack knew her well enough to ask her if she would accompany our class when we visited her show. I had seen some of Ms. Cunningham's Photos in the class projected as slides but otherwise did not know much about her.We picked her up in our instructor's car at her house on Green Street in San Francisco on Russian Hill. The house was a Victorian set back from the sidewalk with a second story porch overlooking a wild garden. Miss Cunningham was 87 years old and the and wore a loose fitting dress with a bold colorful print, she had a large Peace Sign dangling from her neck. Upon entering the car, she inquired if there were any women in the class, there were none in our car. Mr. Welpott reassured her there were women students in the other car, that would meet us at the museum.In a medium size Gallery, we were surrounded by approximately 20-25 of her photographs. I was able to speak with her personally. First she volunteered that she thought some of the photos were not that good. She said it's terrible that once you become famous people will no longer tell you the truth about your work. We were standing near a photo of a nude in nature, it exuded sensuality and earthiness. The background was misty and expressionist. I asked her who the model was she said that's me. I was shocked that the woman before me was one in the same as the figure in the photo hanging on the Museum Gallery wall. It was an early Life Lesson for me concerning the temporal nature of "this mortal coil" as Shakespeare termed it.

One of the students who was a photographer pointed at a portrait of Morris Graves, a well-known painter of the Northwest school and asked Imogene Cunningham if she "burned" the image to achieve a marvelous luminous light. She said, "no, the light was coming through the floorboards of the porch above and was cast upon the painter's face suffusing it with a spiritual glow". She further stated that she never altered any of her photos in the darkroom, she either printed the negatives or disposed of them. This was startling to my photographer classmates who did a lot of altering of their works in the dark room.These were the highlights of our meeting at the museum in 1971 that I can recall. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to meet this American Master. This event left a lasting impression that has inspired me to the present day.