I learned about this amazing photographer when we attended the Tahoe: A Visual History three years ago at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Mary Jo, Cyndy, Laura and I joined together for a girls' day out to see this exhibit. This major retrospective exhibition, at the Museum through January 27, 2019, rediscovers and celebrates the work of Anne Brigman (1869-1950) who is best known for her iconic landscape photographs, made in the early 1900s, depicting herself and other female nudes outdoors in the Sierra Nevada. What's not to love?!


Born in Hawaii (1869) to missionary parents, Anne moved to California when she was sixteen years old. She said of the move, "the ache in [her] legs for flight... [and] the wild, wonderful need to stampede."
You may not recognize her name, but you've probably seen one of Anne Brigman's photos before. She photographed people -- including herself -- nude, in dramatic poses against wild, natural backdrops, often in the High Sierras. Her photographs have become textbook examples of "Pictorialism," a phase in photographic history which flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries -- a time when photographers tried to justify their worth in a world more fond of painting. Pictorialist photographers manipulated their images to make them look more like "artistic creations" than mere realistic snaps of a subject.
Anne was 32 years old when in 1091 she bought her No. 1 Folding Pocket Camera E by Kodak... a very new and user-friendly camera.
Photography was a new medium then where artists wanted to elevate photography to the level of other fields and be taken seriously. A mere year after she took up photography in 1901, Anne wrote a letter to Alfred Stieglitz, the godfather of art photography of her day (famous for his relationship with Georgia O'Keeffe, following the end of his with Brigman). Stieglitz rewarded her moxie and talent by inducting her into the Photo-Secession movement. Photo-Secessionists championed the idea that a photograph need not be slavishly dedicated to the depiction of reality, but instead composed and even manipulated to deliver a compelling subjective vision.
This hiking, pioneering photographer climbed to high Sierra summits, "reclaiming the legendary summit as her own. The visualization of the human form as a part of tree and rock rhythms." Dawn dreamily showcases Donner Lake in the distance. Anne is recognized as the earliest self-portrait woman photographer to capture herself in the nude.
The Guest is an amazing example of her ability to manipulate an image, adding a layer of surreal that I absolutely loved.


Anne Brigman worked in other mediums, as well. I loved this black ink linoleum print (1930). The composition shows the silhouettes of three mermaids in profile above a wave. The figures appear in front of a large sphere (likely the sun or moon). Each mermaid wears a crown composed of long radiating lines. Having taken printmaking classes before, I appreciated the details in and talent needed to create this print.
We then meandered to Laid Bare in the Landscape. This was a collection of photographs by women who were influenced by the work of Anne Brigman. "To compare the landscape photo of Anne to her counterparts of the late 20th to early 21st century is to weave a new thread connecting generations of women artists who have aimed to explore and promote alternative ways of seeing and knowing." I have included my three most favorite followers.
Night Bathing was taken by Louise Dahl-Wolfe (United States, 1895–1989) who is best known as a fashion photographer. Her tenure at Harper’s Bazaar from 1936 until 1958, a period when the journal was at the vanguard of dramatic changes to the style and content of women’s magazines, provided her with particular prestige. Although she is generally recognized for her astute and early use of color photography to illustrate fashion, a closer examination of Dahl-Wolfe’s body of work reveals a much more complex photographer. Through masterful combination of artistic skill, art historical knowledge, cultural consciousness, and aesthetic refinement, Dahl-Wolfe created images that constitute important contributions to the history of photography.
There was something very whimsical about Mary Beth Edelson's Zippy Trickster (1973). I liked it.
Kaa by Cara Romero really moved me. This fine art photographic portrait was created as a tribute to Mud Woman, a female deity honored by Pueblo Indian potters. Unique and beautiful.