When Imogen Cunningham first began photographing magnolia blossoms in her San Francisco backyard in 1923, American photography was experiencing a transformation. In this innovative photograph from ca. 1925, Cunningham intentionally breaks with the then-popular Pictorialist style--defined by its soft focus and painterly compositions--in favor of a more modern approach. Rather than compose the image to resemble classical painting, she opted to frame her subject so tightly that it appears nearly abstract. In lieu of a soft-focus lens, Cunningham chose one with a large depth of field to allow the majority of the picture to be rendered in sharp detail.

Natalie Pellolio