| Names: | Born: Anne Wardrop Nott
Other: Annie Brigman
Other: Annie W. Brigman
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| | Dates: | 1869 - 1950 | | Born: | Hawaii, Honolulu | | Died: | US, CA, Oakland | | Active: | US | | Gender: | Female |
Granddaughter of the missionary to Hawaii Lorrin Andrews; she went to US mainland and became a famous Pictorialist photographer, part of the Alfred Stieglitz inner circle; made no images in her native Hawaii but returned for a visit in 1928.
[Hawaiian material contributed by Bruce T. Erickson]
We are seeking evidence for the travels of Anne Brigman and her, as yet unproven, visit to Hawaii in 1928. If you have any details on this, or any other biographical details, there are researchers who would be interested. Until proven the 1928 visit should be treated with caution. (Alan Griffiths, Sept 25, 2007)Preparing biographies
Biography provided by Focal Press
Actress, photographer, and champion of woman’s rights, who separated from her husband to "work out my destiny." Brigman received acclaim and notoriety for her innovative interpretations of the female figure in nature, often inhabiting the landscape with her own nude body. Brigman’s interpretation of the landscape removed the female body from the gaze of a clothed man in the confines of his studio. She was one of the 21 women of the 105 members of the Photo-Secession. Her work appeared in three issues of Camera Work. She was elected to the British Linked Ring Society, and published a book of her poems and photographs (Songs of a Pagan, 1950).
(Author: Robert Hirsch - Independent scholar and writer)
Michael Peres (Editor-in-Chief), 2007, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th edition, (Focal Press) [ISBN-10: 0240807405, ISBN-13: 978-0240807409]
(Used with permission)
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Brigman, Anne, 1949, Songs of a Pagan, (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers) [LL_REF:1320]
Ehrens, S., 1995, A Poetic Vision: The Photographs of Anne Brigman, (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art) [LL_REF:1319]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com
| | Portraits
If you have a portrait of this photographer or know of the whereabouts of one we would be most grateful.
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Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
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Exhibitions on this website |
 | Anne Brigman: Invictus |
|  | Anne Brigman: Nudes |
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All photographs by this photographer
Annie Brigman
American, 1869-1950
Anne Brigman was a self-described "free spirit" who rejected society's notion of a woman finding self fulfilment as a wife and mother, and instead found her fulfilment through her artistic expression. Brigman had an intense relationship with nature which figured prominently in her photographs. She frequently photographed female nudes in a landscape expressing a oneness between art and nature. As a member of Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession group, Brigman employed the soft-focus technique and elaborate printing processes favored by them. In order to achieve a desired effect in a photograph, Brigman heavily altered her negatives, as well as her prints, which she believed was part of her artistic freedom. Her photographs were reproduced in Stieglitz's Camera Work and she is considered to be one of the leading west coast pictorialists.
For more information on Brigman, see A Poetic Vison: The Photographs of Anne Brigman, by Susan Ehrens, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1995.
[Contributed by Lee Gallery]
Annie Brigman
Born in Hawaii, Anne Brigman moved to California when she was sixteen. Originally trained as a painter, she had her first photography exhibition in 1902, at the second San Francisco Salon, an annual group show organized by the California Camera Club. Brigman's favorite subject was the female nude, often posed outdoors in dramatic landscapes to suggest an intimate and powerful connection to the natural world. Influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and the Tonalist painters, she sought to bring photography into the realm of fine art.
Brigman often manipulated her negatives in the darkroom to create soft, subjective effects. She used pencils, paint, chemicals and even etching tools directly on her negatives. She also often combined negatives, sandwiching them together in her enlarger so that images were superimposed on one another, ironically to achieve a more naturalistic image. By endowing elements of the California landscape with her highly personal vision, she sought to overcome the commonly held perception that photography was merely a tool of description. Among her other accomplishments, her work appeared in three issues of Camera Work, published by Alfred Stieglitz until 1917. In 1929 she moved to Long Beach, California, where she continued to photograph, focusing on Los Angeles beaches and industry. A year before her death in Eagle Rock, near Los Angeles, in 1950, she published a book of her poems and photographs titled Songs of a Pagan.
Anne Brigman’s work is in major museum collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Source: J. Paul Getty Museum, Oakland Museum of California
[Contributed by the Etherton Gallery]
The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
If there is an analysis of a single photograph or a useful self portrait I will highlight it here. |
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