The superb essay by Richard Lorenz explains the genesis of Ms. Cunningham's career, the influences on her work, how her styles developed, how she sought work, and the challenges that she faced as a person and as an artist. The essay is of such quality that it raises the overall value of the book. Two of Ms. Cunningham's weaknesses were tendencies to misuse shadow and to blur where clarity would have worked better. Many of the images in this book are marred by these routine flaws. On the other hand, there are enough rewarding works to make owning this volume a treat. You will probably find yourself strongly favoring a third of the images over the rest. If you are a fan of her nude work, I think you will find many of the portraits disappointing. I did like them better than the floral images she produced. This book contains 208 duotone plates, 50 black and white images, and 13 color plates. All of the color plates looked a little peculiar. Something is off in the reproduction of them. It almost looked like an error in the color registration by the printer.
Ms. Cunningham's best efforts were generally of people in her family, or those she had great respect or affection for. When her connection to the person was modest, often the results were too. Generally, the more elaborate the composition, the better the result except when shadows were involved. For that reason, her outdoor portraits in full sun turned out best.
My favorite images in this book (as reproduced here) include:
My Father at Sixty, 1906; Mother and Child, Germany, 1909-1910; My Mother Peeling Apples, about 1910; The Dream, 1910; Roi Partridge, 1915; My Father, about 1918; Dane Coolidge, about 1921; Roger Sturtevant, about 1922; Sherwood Anderson, Writer 2, about 1923; Gertrude Gerrish, 1924; Henry Cowell, 1926; Portrait of Portia Hume, about 1930; Frances Dee, 1932; The Pareeckh Sisters from India, early 1930s; Robert Irwin, 1933; Alfred Stieglitz, 1934; Herbert Hoover 2, 1935; My Father at Ninety, 1936; Shen Yao, 1938; Edward Weston at Point Lobos 2, 1945; Woman in Sorrow, 1964; Brassai, 1973; Ansel Adams, Photographer 2, 1975; Morris Graves in His Leek Garden, 1972; Dr. Maria Kolisch, 1973; and Roi Patridge and Horse's Skull, 1975.
After you examine this book, I suggest that you think about what you want to learn and feel from a portrait. Do you want to know how the person liked to portray him or herself? Do you want to see a pawn within the photographer's style? Do you want to understand the person's personality? Then, go back and look at these images and think about what Ms. Cunningham has captured in each case.
As Mr. Lorenz says in his essay, even before a negative is retouched, "lighting manipulates and obfuscates reality," the "environmental context of the photograph modulates its connective power," and the "theatrics of makeup and costume alter fact and validate illusions." Where do you see these effects?
If you are like me, you will find the double exposure work interesting . . . capturing a sense of the fourth dimension of time. Many of the works will remind you of Marcel Duchamp's work, with which Ms. Cunningham was quite familiar.
Capture reality past the poser's projection . . . and add truth!
