She shot a roll of landscapes and flowers. But her attraction to form turned to portraits and figures. She became infatuated with the beauty of the human body, and her pioneering work photographing nudes contributed significantly, and certainly more than any other woman, to the acceptance of the nude as an art form.

Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland, Oregon. Her father named her after the heroine of Shakespeare's Cymberline. He encouraged her to read before she started school and, though not a rich man, paid for her to take art lessons in the summer.

She attended the University of Washington in Seattle, majoring in chemistry after she was advised by her professor that she should have a scientific background if she wanted to be a... MORE