Art & culture
What did Imogen Cunningham set out to photograph in “After Ninety”?
Late in life, Cunningham made a portrait project about people living beyond ninety.
At age ninety-two, Imogen Cunningham began a project to photograph people over ninety. She sought subjects in homes, hospitals and convents, drawing on portraiture to think about age while she herself was a nonagenarian. The planned book, After Ninety, appeared after her death in 1977.
A continuing portrait practice
The Getty Museum describes Cunningham’s project as a deliberate effort to remain active and to consider her own aging through the faces of other people. She estimated that the work would take two years. The series grew from her long experience making portraits, though its subject and circumstances were distinct from her earlier commissions.
Evidence: Museum exhibition
Time and publication
Cunningham died before the planned project was completed, and the book appeared posthumously. That publication history shapes how viewers encounter the work: it is both the photographer’s late project and an edited volume assembled after her death. Careful dating distinguishes when photographs were made from when a book was published.
Evidence: Museum exhibition
A sequence beyond a single sitting
A booth strip captures several expressions within seconds, while After Ninety gathers portraits made across a longer project. Both use repeated attention to faces, but the scale and authorial choices differ. Cunningham’s work turns portraiture into an extended study of age rather than a short souvenir session.
Evidence: Museum exhibition
Sources & further reading
Sources for the specific facts and product descriptions above. Our worked examples, interpretations and practical suggestions are original editorial guidance.
- Imogen Cunningham: A Retrospective — Getty MuseumMuseum exhibition