Twentieth-century masterpieces at Art Basel Miami Beach

In 1901, as an 18 year old in Seattle, Imogen Cunningham sent away for her first camera. Over the following seven decades, she displayed an extraordinary dedication to photography, conducting extensive research into the medium’s chemical processes and artistic possibilities. The images she made were ahead of their time; her photographs of botany, landscapes, and nudes are at once thoughtful, sensual, and smart. On view at Edwynn Houk Gallery’s booth (A8), this intimately scaled gelatin silver print shows the folded torso of the dancer John Bovingdon, who, during the Second World War, was fired unceremoniously from his job as an economic analyst after superiors caught wind of rumors that he used to be a ballet dancer and once had Communist associations. The print was a gift to Cunningham’s photography dealer Lee Witkin; in the margin, Cunningham inscribed ‘For Lee forever / IC’.

28 November 2022