The Power of Abstraction: The Photography of Sonya Noskowiak
By Alanna O’Riley. Winner of Dudley Freeman Prize for Photographic Practices and History 2019.
For ARTHIST 346, Global History of Photography, Semester Two, 2019. Grade: A+
“‘[Noskowiak’s workmanship] as must necessarily be the case under such a master as Edward Weston is clean and direct…but Sonya Noskowiak has put into her work something which is essentially her own: a subtle and delicate loveliness.’[1]”
Sonya Noskowiak (1900-1975) was an American photographer and member of Group f.64, a collective of Californian photographers during the 1930s. Named after the smallest aperture on a camera, Group f.64 was united by a contempt for the dominant pictorialist aesthetic, instead embracing the values of ‘straight photography.’ As a member of Group f.64, Noskowiak conformed to the new ‘pure’ method, defined by sharp focus and close composition of everyday subjects that accentuated light, line, and form.[2] Among famous peers like Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Imogen Cunningham, Noskowiak was at one time regarded as the best female photographer in America.[3] Despite this, Noskowiak’s practice has been largely ignored by scholars. Noskowiak’s extensive practice is reduced to bottom-page references, gendered musings, and validation of other Group f.64 photographers, particularly Weston, who was her mentor and lover. Drawing from what little has been said of her practice, this essay is an unprecedented look at Noskowiak’s photography, elucidating the importance of her practice within the history of Group f.64 and the wider anthology of photography. Looking at her three significant subjects – flora and food, landscape, and portraiture – this essay will illustrate how Noskowiak married the veristic dictates of straight photography with a personal interest in abstraction. Through isolation and deduction, Noskowiak created images with a powerful physical and emotional presence. While Noskowiak may be overlooked for how her work bears formal similarities to that of her contemporaries, her unique ability to find power in simple forms necessitates an exploration into her practice.
Figure 1: Edward Weston, Pepper No. 30, 1930. Gelatin silver print, 24.1 x 19.2 cm. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. Retrieved from https://www.sfmoma.org/.
Flowers, plants, fruits, and vegetables: these were among the first subjects Sonya Noskowiak photographed, using abstraction to transform them beyond their commonality. Flora and food were a popular subject matter for Group f.64 photographers as ordinary objects. Under the mentorship of Edward Weston, Noskowiak was introduced to the artistic capacity of plants and produce. Making these mundane objects appear extraordinary was a skill of ‘seeing photographically’ or the ability to visualise the image both before and at the moment of exposure, described by both Weston and Ansel Adams as the principal objective of straight photography.[4] Such was the importance of ‘seeing’ that it took eight months of learning to become a ‘seer’ before Noskowiak took her first photograph with Weston.[5] Through her extensive education in ‘seeing’ Noskowiak developed a keen eye, especially for flora and food. Noskowiak found subjects not only for herself but also many of the vegetables that Weston would photograph, most notably finding the pepper that would become the infamous Pepper No. 30 [fig. 1].[6] The collaborative practice that developed between Weston and Noskowiak meant that many of the photographs made during the period of mentorship, from 1929 to 1932, bear strong similarities. However, there are instances where Noskowiak’s distinctive skill in abstraction excels. In photographs both titled White Radish [fig. 2 & fig. 3], Noskowiak and Weston capture the same anthropomorphic form of a radish in a close composition, both using light to accentuate the form and texture of the radish. Despite bearing formal similarity, Noskowiak’s photograph is markedly more urgent: the disassociated context and direct viewpoint establish a sense of immediacy. As was typical of Noskowiak’s compositions, the picture frame falls within the ‘visual boundaries’ of the subject, establishing a neutral space for the photographer to compose upon.[7] In Noskowiak’s composition, the twisting and curving forms of the radish echo that of the Three Graces; the radish is nature’s answer to classical beauty. Naomi Rosenblum said of the work:
“Although her work was characterised at the time as feminine in approach, images such as White Radish actually seem more aggressive and energetic, as well as more mysterious, than many such close ups by Weston or other male associates [8].”
Noskowiak’s ability to play on this duality of femininity and masculinity, softness and strength, is due to her capacity to abstract forms. By decontextualizing, heightening light and contour, the object takes on an entirely new presence beyond that of an ordinary vegetable.
Figure 2: Sonya Noskowiak, White Radish, 1932. Gelatin silver print, 10 x 7.5 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 3: Edward Weston, White Radish, 1933. Gelatin silver print, 24.5 x 18.6 cm. Private Collection. Retrieved from http://www.sothebys.com/.
As well as photographing vegetables, a favoured natural subject of Noskowiak’s was the calla lily. In her photographs of callas, Noskowiak demonstrates her ability to abstract and isolate, particularly when compared to Imogen Cunningham’s photographs of the same subject. Cunningham is well known for her photographs of lilies, namely her work Two Callas [fig. 4]. Whereas Cunningham retains the primary form of the lily and highlights its natural shape, Noskowiak abstracts the flower’s form so that it is almost unrecognisable. In an untitled image [fig. 5], the two petals of the lily fan out in an incredible shape, the dark lines of shade through the petals make the flower appear more like two large blots of paint than that of a natural bloom. Moreover, Noskowiak’s interest in the skeletal structure of the flower is evident in Calla Lily [fig. 6], where the photographer manipulates light to enhance the underlying veins of the lily. These photographs of plants and produce are evidence of what Fernand Léger coined the ‘lyric and plastic power’ of the object that emerges through isolation or fragmentation.[9] Through isolating and abstracting these natural objects, Noskowiak created photographs imbued with a physical presence that transcends the mundane quality of the object into something that is art. While all the photographers of the Group f.64 sought to make the ordinary extraordinary, Noskowiak had a unique ability to abstract forms past the point of recognition to awaken the artistic and aesthetic power they held, only realised through isolated terms. Noskowiak’s unique eye for flora and food resulted in magnificent photographs indicative of her ability as a photographer.
Figure 4: Imogen Cunningham, Two Callas, 1929. Gelatin silver print, 30.4 x 24.1 cm. MOMA, New York. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/.
Figure 5: Sonya Noskowiak, Untitled (Calla Lily), 1930. Gelatin silver print, 17.5 x 23.6 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 6: Sonya Noskowiak, Calla Lily, 1930. Gelatin silver print, 17.7 x 23.2 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Sonya Noskowiak’s photographs of landscapes, both natural and industrial, illustrate her ability to create potent images through abstraction. In the search for everyday subject matter, the American West Coast landscape was a natural choice for the photographers of Group f.64. During the 1930s, the West Coast landscape had the rare quality of being both rustic and modern, showing signs of industrialisation while still holding onto its agricultural roots.[10] For natural subject matter, many Group f.64 photographers turned to the Point Lobos Natural Reserve in Carmel, Noskowiak and Weston photographing there on numerous occasions. Noskowiak and Weston both focused their lenses towards the Cypress trees that decorated the reserve. In Uprooted Cypress [fig. 7], Weston severs the bottom half of the tree and focuses on its spindly branches that tangle together, a dichotomous blend of stillness and movement. In contrast, Noskowiak gets right to the root of the tree. In her photograph Cypress Detail [fig. 8], Noskowiak creates a jarring and highly textured image; the cypress’ splintering form is forceful and evocative. The texture of the tree works against the glossy texture of the gelatin silver print, an interesting tension Noskowiak frequently fostered between her subjects and the optical surface of the print.[11] Again, Noskowiak detaches her subject from its surroundings to bring focus to its hidden dimensionality. Noskowiak also photographed sand during her time at Point Lobos, figuring a world within a world in her photograph Sand Patterns [fig. 9], the lines in the sand become delineated veins, cast like the shadow of an immense forest.
Figure 7: Edward Weston, Uprooted Cypress, Point Lobos, 1934. Gelatin silver print, 18.9 x 24.1 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 8: Sonya Noskowiak, Cypress Detail – Point Lobos, 1933. Gelatin silver print, 10.1 x 7.5 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 9: Sonya Noskowiak, Sand Patterns, 1932. Gelatin silver print, 22 x 16.8 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Just as quickly as Noskowiak cultivated an ability to create extraordinary images from nature, she turned her lens towards the modern forms of industrialisation. In her pursuit of a subject free from symbolic meaning that could inhibit the formal abstraction she desired, the industrial landscape appeared ideal for its modernity, freedom from sentimentality, and accessibility.[12] Untethered to connotation, the industrial landscape was a vehicle for Noskowiak to explore further her capacity to find power in simple forms. In two untitled photographs, Noskowiak focuses her camera on objects of modernity, in one lumber and in another tyres. Her photograph of lumber [fig. 10], sometimes discussed as Lumberyard, is taken from an angle where the stacked pieces of lumber are both above and below the viewer’s eye line. Light and dark create a dynamic image where form reverberates in a rhythmic pattern across the photograph. As recognized by author Martin W. Sandler:
“[Lumberyard] epitomises how, in the hands of an imaginative photographer, beauty can be conveyed through the simplest of objects. [13]”
‘[Lumberyard] epitomises how, in the hands of an imaginative photographer, beauty can be conveyed through the simplest of objects.’[13]
Noskowiak’s ability as a photographer is evidenced by the fact that she could create such a divisive image from simple stacked wood through isolating the subject from its context and framing it in such an abstract manner. In her photograph of tyres [fig. 11], Noskowiak continued to figure the textured and patterned industrial landscape. From her photographs of the natural to the industrial, texture remained imperative, the lumber and tires both stimulating tactile tension. The repeating tires in Noskowiak’s photograph evoke rolling hills or crashing waves: the senses are implicated in her abstraction. Finding repetitive forms was integral to the Group f.64 work, with Clement Greenberg highlighting how each photographer transformed the picture into nothing more than a pattern.[14] Claire Raymond echoed this sentiment, stating that it was through this practice of deriving patterns from different objects that the Group f.64 photographers turned all subjects into landscapes.[15] Simplifying the isolated subject and photograph itself to a patterned landscape allowed Noskowiak to create photographs where aesthetic abstraction was paramount, and the power of mundane forms could be revealed.
Figure 10: Sonya Noskowiak, Untitled (Lumberyard), 1930s. Gelatin silver print, 11.5 x 16.6 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 11: Sonya Noskowiak, Untitled, 1931. Gelatin silver print, 17.8 x 23 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
It becomes apparent from viewing Noskowiak’s work in comparison to the landscapes of Ansel Adams, the most renowned landscape photographer in Group f.64, that Noskowiak had a unique outlook on the landscape. Adams found beauty in the enormity of the landscape [fig. 12], documenting an American utopia not unlike the pictorialists did. Conversely, Noskowiak found beauty in the isolated object, creating an alternative landscape of pattern and texture. Noskowiak’s ability to derive beauty from the object fosters a new appreciation for the whole it is derivative of and is suggestive of the capacity of modern implements to be as worthy landscape subjects as Adams’ canyons and hills. While Noskowiak’s later landscape photography consisted of expansive shots of terrain necessitated by financial needs, her work consistently illustrated an interest in isolating both natural and modern elements and abstracting them into compelling images of pattern and texture.
Figure 12: Ansel Adams, Valley View, Summer, Yosemite National Park, c. 1935. Gelatin silver print, 17.7 x 23.3 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 13: Sonya Noskowiak, Zohmah Charlot, c. 1933. Gelatin silver print, 24.2 x 19 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 14: Sonya Noskowiak, Zohmah Charlot, c. 1933. Gelatin silver print, 24.2 x 19 cm. Charlot Collection, University of Hawaii. Retrieved from https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/.
After finding abstraction in natural and mechanical elements, Noskowiak looked to portraiture as her ultimate subject. Portraiture was an important source of income for many of the Group f.64 photographers, Noskowiak included; it provided the financial support needed to pursue artistic endeavours. Although portraiture increasingly became a matter of survival for Noskowiak, she still used it to explore her interests in isolation and deduction. Noskowiak’s photographs of Zohmah Charlot [fig. 13 & fig. 14] exemplify the photographer’s approach to portraiture. Noskowiak framed her sitter just as she would a vegetable or tyre: close-up with a decontextualized background of her studio or sky. Zohmah is dressed in simple clothing with her hair pinned back; the essential elements of her appearance are the focal point. Using light and shadow, Noskowiak encourages the viewer to appreciate the line and form of Zohmah’s appearance. The importance of form is further suggested by the aligning curve of Zohmah’s white hair clip with her cheekbone [fig. 14]. In rendering Zohmah just as she would inanimate object, Noskowiak illustrates that the human subject should be appreciated for the same qualities of shape that her photographs of plants or landscapes inspire. Clement Greenberg stated that ‘straight photography’ instilled an inanimate quality in human subjects, a comment addressed to Weston’s work that can be easily applied here to Noskowiak.[16]
In relation to the writing of Roland Barthes, Noskowiak’s enhancement of the objectifying process of photography only ensures the ‘death’ of the subject.[17] Yet, Noskowiak’s simplification of her subject equally captures the spirituality and essence of an individual that portraiture desperately aims to achieve. In reducing the individual to a collection of lines, an emotional intensity is drawn out of the sitter, uninhibited by the complications of detail. Paul Strand, a pre-emptive figure in the development of Group f.64, described how an individual’s spirit could emerge from this kind of portrait photography:
“He has looked with three eyes and has been able to hold, by purely photographic means, space filling, tonality and tactility, line and form, that moment when the forces at work in a human being become most intensely physical and objective…In thus revealing the spirit of the individual. [18]”
Figure 15: Consuelo Kanaga, Frances with a Flower, c. 1932. Gelatin silver print, 27 x 20.3 cm. Brooklyn Museum, New York. Retrieved from https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/.
Figure 16: Consuelo Kanaga, Annie Mae Merriweather, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 15.1cm. International Center of Photography, New York. Retrieved from https://www.icp.org/.
Through isolating and abstracting the individual, Noskowiak unlocks the spirituality of the sitter by making them vulnerable before the camera’s lens. Consuelo Kanaga, another photographer in Group f.64, believed that it was through photography that the divine spirit of the individual could be revealed.[19] Kanaga sought to capture essence through extreme proximity to the sitter, getting so close so that the face of the individual engulfs the picture frame [fig. 15 & fig. 16]. Kanaga’s sitters are photographed so close that the viewer is confronted with a mass of skin and flesh, given no space to deduce forms. Contemporaneously, Noskowiak places emphasis on divisive angles and the play of light, as in her portraits of Maudelle Bass [fig. 17 & fig. 18], to present an individual in their simplest iteration, thus reveal the complexities within. Moreover, Noskowiak’s portraiture illustrates a dual interest in rendering the individual an object in order to stimulate appreciation of line and form while also empowering the emotive possibilities of the photograph that emerge from simplicity.
Figure 17: Sonya Noskowiak, Maudelle Bass, 1939. Gelatin silver print, 23.5 x 19.1 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
Figure 18: Sonya Noskowiak, Maudelle Bass, 1939. Gelatin silver print, 28.7 x 19.3 cm. Centre for Creative Photography, Arizona. Retrieved from http://ccp-emuseum.catnet.arizona.edu/.
This essay began with a quote from John Hagemeyer that reduced Sonya Noskowiak’s photography to ‘a subtle and delicate loveliness.’ This essay has illustrated that her practice is better described as a powerful illustration of the ways isolation and deduction were used by a talented photographer to create photographs of immense presence, both material and emotional. In a movement that necessitated conformity of technique and subject, Noskowiak carved out a unique space for herself by abstracting the forms of flora and food, landscape, and portraiture, to create photographs significant to the history of photography. Many scholars are quick to acknowledge the quality of individual photographs by Noskowiak. However, her ability as a photographer and the broader distinction of her practice has been neglected. With any luck, this essay will represent a step towards further scholarship on Noskowiak’s divisive practice that merits the same enthusiastic discussion regularly afforded to the work of her close contemporaries.
[1] Hagemeyer in Bender, Stevenson, and Pitts, “Sonya Noskowiak Archive,” 7.
[2] Hartmann, “A Plea for Straight Photography,” 187.
[3] Alinder, Group f.64: Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and the Community of Artists Who Revolutionised American Photography, 27.
[4] Adams, “A Personal Credo,” 145; Weston, “Seeing Photographically,” 134.
[5] Weston, The daybooks of Edward Weston, 141.
[6] Weston, 180.
[7] Center for Creative Photography, “Sonya Noskowiak,” 6.
[8] Rosenblum, A History of Women Photographers, 170.
[9] Léger, “A New Realism – The Object: It’s Plastic and Cinematic Value,” 231.
[10] Heyman, Seeing Straight: The f.64 Revolution in Photography, 40.
[11] Center for Creative Photography, “Sonya Noskowiak,” 6.
[12] Center for Creative Photography, 6.
[13] Sandler, Against the Odds: Women Pioneers in the First Hundred Years of Photography, 175.
[14] Greenberg, “The Camera’s Glass Eye,” 138.
[15] Raymond, Women Photographers and Feminist Aesthetics, 60.
[16] Greenberg, “The Camera’s Glass Eye,” 138.
[17] Barthes, Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, 13.
[18] Strand, “Photography and the New God,” 129.
[19] Sandler, Against the Odds: Women Pioneers in the First Hundred Years of Photography, 180.
Bibliography:
Adams, Ansel. “A Personal Credo.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 142-146. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Alinder, Mary Street. Group f.64: Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and the Community of Artists Who Revolutionised American Photography. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2014.
Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1981.
Bender, Donna, Jan Stevenson, and Terence R. Pitts. “Sonya Noskowiak Archive.” Guide Series for Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, no. 2 (1982): 1-42.
Center for Creative Photography. “Sonya Noskowiak.” Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, no. 9 (1979): 1-44.
Greenberg, Clement. “The Camera’s Glass Eye.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 136-138. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Hartmann, Sadakichi. “A Plea for Straight Photography.” In Photography, Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography, 185-188. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
Heyman, Therese T., ed. Seeing Straight: The f.64 Revolution in Photography. Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1992.
Léger, Fernand. “A New Realism – The Object: It’s Plastic and Cinematic Value.” In Photography, Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography, 231-233. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
Raymond, Claire. Women Photographers and Feminist Aesthetics. New York: Routledge, 2017.
Rosenblum, Naomi. A History of Women Photographers. New York: Abbeville Press, 1994.
Sandler, Martin W. Against the Odds: Women Pioneers in the First Hundred Years of Photography. New York: Rizzoli, 2002.
Strand, Paul. “Photography and the New God.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 126-129. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Weston, Edward. Edited by Nancy Newhall. The daybooks of Edward Weston. New York: Aperture, 1973.
Weston, Edward. “Seeing Photographically.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 132-135. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Reading List:
Adams, Ansel. “A Personal Credo.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 142-146. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Alinder, Mary Street. Group f.64: Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and the Community of Artists Who Revolutionised American Photography. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2014.
Bender, Donna, Jan Stevenson, and Terence R. Pitts. “Sonya Noskowiak Archive.” Guide Series for Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, no. 2 (1982): 1-42.
Bright, Deborah. “Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men: An Inquiry into the Cultural Meanings of Landscape Photography.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 302-309. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Center for Creative Photography. “Sonya Noskowiak.” Accessed October 12, 2019. https://ccp.arizona.edu/artists/sonya-noskowiak.
Center for Creative Photography. “Sonya Noskowiak.” Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, no. 9 (1979): 1-44.
Greenberg, Clement. “The Camera’s Glass Eye.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 136-138. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Hammond, Anne. “Ansel Adams and Objectivism: Making a Photograph with Group f.64.” History of Photography, 22, no. 2 (1998): 169-178. doi: 10.1080/03087298.1998.10443873.
Hartmann, Sadakichi. “A Plea for Straight Photography.” In Photography, Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography, 185-188. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
Heyman, Therese T., ed. Seeing Straight: The f.64 Revolution in Photography. Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1992.
Léger, Fernand. “A New Realism – The Object: It’s Plastic and Cinematic Value.” In Photography, Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography, 231-233. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
Marable, Darwin. “The f.64 Revolution in Photography.” World and I, 20, no. 2 (2005): 1-3.
Raymond, Claire. Women Photographers and Feminist Aesthetics. New York: Routledge, 2017.
Rosenblum, Naomi. A History of Women Photographers. New York: Abbeville Press, 1994.
Sandler, Martin W. Against the Odds: Women Pioneers in the First Hundred Years of Photography. New York: Rizzoli, 2002.
Strand, Paul. “Photography and the New God.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 126-129. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Tedford, Matthew Harrison. “Sonya Noskowiak: A Groundbreaking but Forgotten Photographer.” KQED Arts. Published April 6, 2015. https://www.kqed.org/arts/10406015/sonya-noskowiak-a-groundbreaking-but-forgotten-photographer.
Uelsmann, Jerry. “Post-Visualisation.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 232-234. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
Weston, Edward. Edited by Nancy Newhall. The daybooks of Edward Weston. New York: Aperture, 1973.
Weston, Edward. “Seeing Photographically.” In Photographic Theory: An Historical Anthology, 132-135. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014.
About the Author:
Alanna holds a BComm in Marketing and Management and a BA in Art History. She is studying towards her Honours in Art History, and has interest in all kinds of art, particularly conceptual art and surrealism.
