Imogen Cunningham was born on April 12, 1883, in Portland Oregon. She grew up in Seattle, Washington and went to the University of Washington where she received her major in Chemistry. After working in a portrait shop to learn about platinum printing. Eventually, she got a degree to study photographic chemistry in Germany. When she returned, Imogen opened her own portrait studio in Seattle. She frequently exhibited photographs of "romantic tableaux" of her friends. She had her first one-person exhibit in Brooklyn at the Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1914. Imogen closed her shop after marrying Roi Patridge and giving birth to their first son- Gryffyd. The family moved to California and had their twin sons, Padraic and Rondal. All Imogen could capture with such a hectic life was pictures of her children and her garden. Later, she started to get more photography opportunities. Vanity Fair hired her to capture Hollywood. Imogen began to take colored pictures that ended up being included in the Photographers Exhibition in San Francisco, shortly after her divorce with Roi. Vanity Fair invited her to work for them as a permanent photographer in New York, but she moved back to California after awhile of working there.
Imogen proceded to open a studio in San Francisco after selling her house. The studio was in her new home on Green Street. For the next thirteen years, her work was exhibited all over the country and worked on her street photography when she wasn't working on her portraits. Imogen was awarded an "honorary Doctor of the Fine Arts degree by the California College of Arts and Crafts. She was also elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her first book was published by Washington University Press- "Imogen Cunningham: Photographs". The Smithsonian purchased a large collection of her work after she was exhibited in New York City at the Witkin Gallery.
Sadly, Imogen died at the age of 93 on June 23, 1976.
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