University of Notre Dame
Universtiy of Notre Dame

Marble: Museums, Archives, Rare Books and Libraries Exploration

Home Browse Featured My Portfolios About
  1. Home ›
  2. Magnolia Blossom ›

Magnolia Blossom

Date

1925

Creator

Imogen Cunningham
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

While her husband Roi Partridge was teaching or at work in his studio, Cunningham stayed at home with their boys. There, with basic equipment, she made still life photographs and developed them in an improvised darkroom... She photographed both in the garden and indoors from cuttings in vases, during one quiet hour each afternoon when the boys were napping. She drew in closely to the leaves and flowers that were her subjects, illuminating them to describe their forms, and focusing on their varied surfaces. Magnolia Blossom is the most famous of these photographs. She cut a closed magnolia blossom from a tree in the backyard and brought it into the house, waiting for three days as the flower opened, until she sensed the right moment. With a close vantage point and focused detail, Cunningham revealed information about the flower unapparent to the casual observer. Having worked in Dresden, Cunningham was likely aware of Karl Blossfeldt's... enlarged studies of plant forms, published in Germany in 1909. Although she took a similar up-close perspective on these small, organic forms, her work is very different in composition: while Blossfeldt's images are diagrammatic and taxonomic, Cunningham's are architectonic. The light directed inside the flower draws the eye through its structure as if it were a building. This delicate lighting also suggests the softness and translucence of the petals. The lines and curves of the flower's form evoke human anatomy, and the delicacy of the petals hints at a subtle sexual metaphor.

from Acton, A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame: Twentieth Century (Notre Dame, 2019)

Images

This is called Magnolia Blossom within the category of Photographs.Open in external viewer application
This is called Magnolia Blossom within the category of Photographs.
This is called Magnolia Blossom within the category of Photographs.

Metadata

Creator
Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883 - 1976)
Date
1925
Classification
Photographs
Medium
Platinum-palladium print on Strathmore 500 paper
Dimensions
11 x 13 3/4 in. (28 x 35 cm)
Credit Line
Humana Foundation Endowment
Copyright Status
Copyright
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Imogen Cunningham Trust
Subject
flower
Magnolia
still lifes

Metadata

Accession Number
1993.011.001
Campus Location
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Access

Not on view, please request access

Metadata

Contact Us

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.


Related Items

No results found for .
Raclin Murphy Art Museum
100 Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
Phone (574) 631–5466
RMMACollections@nd.edu
Hesburgh Library
284 Hesburgh Library
Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA
Phone (574) 631-6258
asklib@nd.edu
© 2023 University of Notre Dame
Marble: Museums, Archives, Rare Books and Libraries Exploration
AboutPortfoliosHelpAccessibilitySite Map