Imogen Cunningham: On the Body

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Cunningham's best
Review: This book is not just about nudes. Parts of the human body are present in every photograph, but the photos are not only of nude bodies. Hands, eyes, and ears are also explored. The work that is presented is very well done, and this book is valuable for completing coverage of topics Imogen Cunningham photographed, but nudes, or other body parts are a fairly small part of her work. The author mentions two decades where Cunningham did very little photography of nudes.

Cunningham was primarily a portrait photographer. Portraiture represented nearly all of her commercial work, and much of her personal work as well. For this reason, I recommend "Imogen Cunningham: Portraiture" over this book. It's a better representation of her work, and as such tells more about the photographer. The biography, "Imogen Cunningham : Ideas Without End : A Life and Photographs" is also available and is a good introduction to her life and works.