Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com
A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
Cornish To Exhibit Forgotten Imogen Cunningham Series
5 March 2015
The Cornish College of the Arts exhibit A Stitch in Time: Imogen at Cornish will feature a series of images of college life taken 80 years ago by Imogen Cunningham. The series, many of which were used for a 1935 Cornish catalog, was rediscovered last year as the college prepared for its centennial.
CUNNINGHAM IMAGES from the 1935 CORNISH CATALOG
Images courtesy of Cornish College.
The discovery was made when college officials requested permission from Meg Partridge, Cunningham's granddaughter, to use an image of Martha Graham, who had visited the college. Partridge volunteered that the Imogen Cunningham Trust contained quite a few more negatives of the college's early days.
"While the photograph Three Harps is a familiar image, the remaining photographs are being displayed in an exhibition for the very first time," said Bridget Nowlin, Cornish's visual arts librarian. "There are many beautiful moments that Imogen created of the Cornish School students as they worked and studied."
Among the 17 photos in the exhibition are photos of dancers Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham taken elsewhere by Cunningham. Graham taught at Cornish and Merce Cunningham was a student at Cornish who returned to teach master classes.
The exhibit will open March 18 in the President's Gallery at Cornish College of the Arts, 1000 Lenora St. in Seattle. The show runs through June 30 and is open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A Stitch In Time: Imogen at Cornish
New Exhibition of Photographer Imogen Cunningham Contains Photographs Not Seen Since 1935
SEATTLE, Wash. -- While preparing for Cornish College of the Arts' centennial celebration last November, college officials reached out to Meg Partridge, granddaughter of famed American photographer Imogen Cunningham, about using a Cunningham photo of Martha Graham, a frequent visitor to Cornish in its early years. During the discussion, Partridge revealed that the Imogen Cunningham Trust held numerous negatives of photos taken at the college that had not been seen in public for nearly 80 years.
"In 1935, The Cornish School (as it was called then) celebrated 21 years. Nellie Cornish, the school's founder, asked Imogen to return to Seattle to photograph the college and the students," said Bridget Nowlin, Cornish's visual arts librarian. While there is no documentary evidence that the pair met before that, Nowlin noted that Cornish and Cunningham lived within six blocks of each other at an earlier point in their careers and both were well-known figures in the Seattle arts community.
At Partridge's invitation, Nowlin went through the Imogen Cunningham Trust's negatives, discovering many photographs used for a 1935 Cornish catalog and then stored away. These photos form the basis of "A Stitch in Time: Imogen at Cornish," a new exhibition of Cunningham's work curated by Nowlin that opens March 18 in the President's Gallery at Cornish College of the Arts, 1000 Lenora Street, Seattle, WA.
Cunningham's photos of student life at the school, which even then combined the teaching of visual arts and performing arts, show a wide range of activities that would look familiar to Cornish students today. Dancers rehearse at the college's Kerry Hall, stage technicians ready a set and prepare lighting cues for a theater show, artists sketch indoors and outdoors and musicians practice on their instruments.
"While the photograph Three Harps is a familiar image, the remaining photographs are being displayed in an exhibition for the very first time," said Nowlin. "There are many beautiful moments that Imogen created of the Cornish School students as they worked and studied."
There are 17 photos in the exhibition, including a portrait of college founder Nellie Cornish and photos of dancers Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham (no relation) taken elsewhere by Cunningham. Martha Graham taught at Cornish and Nellie Cornish gave Graham her first public performance of her avant garde dance in Seattle. Merce Cunningham, in addition to being a student at Cornish, also returned to teach Master Classes at Cornish.