Imogen Cunningham’s Magnolia Blossom Imogen Cunningham’s life-long love for flora, combined with her keen understanding of line, textural contrast and lighting, bring forth the magnolia blossom’s pure form and soft sensuality through shadow and depth in Magnolia Blossom. The photograph is a highlight in the May 20, 2010 Photographic Literature and Important Photographs auction. Imogen Cunningham, Magnolia Blossom, silver print, 1925; printed late 1960s-early 1970s. Sold for $31,200. While visiting her sister in Washington, D.C., Cunningham purchased a magnolia, the flower that later became the subject of many of her signature images. Since she felt that her feminine imagery separated her at a time when most photographers were male, Cunningham began formalizing her photographs through abstraction and tight cropping, demonstrating her understanding of modernism while simultaneously introducing a delicate eroticism to her imagery. Do you have a photograph by Imogen Cunningham we should take a look at? Learn about how to consign to an auction, and send us a note about your item. Share Facebook Twitter May 6, 2010Author: Swann CommunicationsCategory: Photographs & Photobooks Tags: Imogen Cunningham Photographs & Photobooks Previous Alexey Brodovitch: Ballet Next Gordon Matta-Clark: Walls Paper, Deconstructed Recommended Posts Photographs from the Richard T. Rosenthal Collection Photographs & Photobooks February 22, 2023 A New Muse: Robert Mapplethorpe and Lisa Lyon Photographs & Photobooks April 16, 2020 Do You Speak Photography? Photographs & Photobooks October 10, 2017