Imogen cunningham, ‘stan smoking 2,’ 1959, Silver Gelatin Print

This Spring and Summer, the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College is excited to welcome the work of one of the most celebrated photographers in the history of art to Lakeland. The exhibition, Seen & Unseen: Photographs by Imogen Cunningham, features 60 photographs by Cunningham, whose life — and career — traversed nearly a century.

When looking at the photographs of Cunningham (1883-1976), we encounter images that reflect vital developments in 20th century art and photography — as well as the voice and eye of an undersung master of the camera. Cunningham was a female member of the male-dominated f/64 group of photographers and, despite the art-world’s tendency to overlook women artists, left her indelible stamp on the history and development of modern photography. Alongside Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Cunningham helped pioneer a distinctively West-Coast style of photography, with iconography and compositions that purposefully contrasted those of the East Coast photographers who had defined American photography in the earliest decades of the century.

In this exhibition, featuring work from across Cunningham’s expansive seven-decade career, we invite you to see why this American artist is heralded as one of the most important pioneers of photography — regardless of her gender.