The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection is open for research. Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The Ansel and Virginia Adams letters from Imogen Cunningham consist of two letters from Imogen Cunningham to Ansel and Virginia Adams. One letter is regarding the death of Charles Mayhew, the Adams' son-in-law; the other is regarding a Group f/64 meeting, a photography group organized by Ansel Adams.
Biographical / Historical:
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was an American landscape photographer known for his black and white images of the American West. He took some of his earliest photographs at national parks and as a member of the Sierra Club, which he joined at the age of 17. He was later contracted with the United States Department of the Interior to make photographs of national parks. In 1980, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work and environmental advocacy.
With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System, a technique to determine the ideal film exposure and development to achieve full tonal range. The clarity and depth resulting from this technique characterized Adams's photography.
Adams was a key advisor in establishing the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and helped to stage their first exhibition. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers who advocated for "pure" photography favoring sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. He also helped found the photography magazine Aperture, and co-founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
Virginia Best Adams (1904-2000) and Ansel Adams married in 1928. After her father, Harry Best, passed away in 1936, Virginia Best Adams managed Best's Studio (now the Ansel Adams Gallery), selling high quality merchandise including a series of Ansel Adams photographs called special edition prints. She was an active environmentalist and served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club from 1931 to 1933, was a Trustee of the Yosemite Natural History Association, and was also an avid mountaineer, credited with making the first ascent by a woman of a route on Mt. Whitney in what is now Sequoia National Park.
Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) was a photographer in California known for her botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes. Cunningham began her career producing soft-focus prints in the tradition of pictorialism. In the early 1920s she shifted focus to close-up, sharply detailed studies of plant life and other natural forms. In 1932, Cunningham joined Ansel Adams in Group f/64, a group formed in opposition to pictorialism and dedicated to precisely exposed images.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Ansel Adams correspondence with Imogen Cunningham, 1949-1976; the Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991; and an oral history interview with Imogen Cunningham, 1975 June 9 conducted by Louise Katzman and Paul Karlstrom. The University of California, Berkeley Bancroft Library holds the Ansel Adams collection and the University of California, Los Angeles Charles E. Young Research Library holds the Ansel Adams Papers, 1938-1944. The University of Arizona, Center for Creative Photography holds the Ansel Adams archive, the Ansel Adams Miscellaneous Acquisitions collection, the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust, and the Imogen Cunningham Miscellaneous Acquisitions Collection, 1920s-1974.
Provenance:
Donated 2009 by Anne Adams Helms, Ansel Adams' daughter.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
A typescript of the acceptance speech delivered by Cunningham, May 18, 1968, upon receiving an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts.
Biographical / Historical:
Photographer, teacher; San Francisco, Calif.
Provenance:
Donated 1975 by Margery Mann, a close friend of Cunningham's, and author of a book about her.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Photographers -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Search this
National Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Search this
Smithsonian Institution Office of Public Affairs Search this
Physical description:
35mm;
Type:
Black-and-white negatives
Date:
1969
May 16, 1969
Local number:
SIA Acc. 11-008 [OPA-1505]
Restrictions & Rights:
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
Linda Connor. Linda Connor Christmas card to Imogen Cunningham, 1973 Dec. 15. Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Imogen Cunningham and Margery Mann. Interview with Imogen Cunningham, 1960-1973. Margery Mann files on photography, 1955-1978. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Imogen Cunningham. Imogen Cunningham letter to Ansel Easton Adams, 1964 February 10. Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Merle Armitage. Merle Armitage letter to Imogen Cunningham, October 1955. Imogen Cunningham papers, 1903-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Imogen Cunningham. Laura Andreson at wheel trimming a pot, ca. 1940. Laura Andreson papers, 1932-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Imogen Cunningham. Imogen Cunningham, San Francisco, Calif. letter to Janet Partridge, 1970 Apr. 15. Roi Partridge papers, 1909-2003. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Imogen Cunningham : die Poesie der Form / mit einer Einführung von Pradip Malde ; Vorwort, P. Celina Lunsford = Imogen Cunningham : the poetry of form / with an introduction by Pradip Malde ; preface, P. Celina Lunsford
Imogen Cunningham : frontiers : photographs 1906-1976 : an exhibition / organized by the Imogen Cunningham Trust, Berkeley, California ; essay by Richard Lorenz
The Grapestake Gallery records measure 2.8 linear feet and date from 1970-1986. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operation through administrative records and artist files.
Scope and Contents:
The Grapestake Gallery records measure 2.8 linear feet and date from 1970-1986. The collection sheds light on the gallery's operation through administrative records and artist files.
Administrative records include correspondence with galleries, museums, collectors, dealers, and some artists, and exhibition records. Artist files include resumes, exhibition announcements and reviews, press releases, price lists, scattered photos of artwork, and scattered correspondence with artists. Artists represented include Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Philippe Halsman, Helen Levitt, Joel Meyerowitz, and others.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as two series.
Series 1: Administrative Records, 1974-1986 (Box 1; 1 linear foot)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1970-1985 (Box 2-4; 1.8 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Founded in San Francisco, California, by Ursula Gropper, Thomas V. Meyer and their father, Otto Meyer in 1974, the Grapestake Gallery was known for showing contemporary California painters, sculptors, and 20th-century American photographers. Gropper and Thomas Meyer, both artists, were proponents of photography as a fine art medium.
Artists featured in Grapestake exhibitions included Ansel Adams, whose retrospective was the gallery's inaugural exhibition, Imogen Cunningham, Greg Renfrow, Richard Misrach, Joel Meyerowitz, Leland Rice, and many others. The gallery was over 4,000 square feet, containing a primary exhibition space and three other rooms for exhibiting art, and was known for showing at least two exhibitions at a time.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Thomas V. Meyer in 1987.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- California -- San Francisco
Citation:
Grapestake Gallery records, 1970-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Imogen Cunningham Letters to Hella Hammid, 1956-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.