Anne W. Brigman

American, (1869–1950)
Anne W. Brigman, a late nineteenth-century pictorialist photographer, was born in Hawaii but spent most of her life in California. She used natural images combined with the female figure to create mysteriously poetic images. Her images can be understood as a commentary on the grandeur and universality of nature—the oneness of woman and creation. More recently, her photographs have been seen as statements of feminist principles, expressing a yearning for some sort of unattainable freedom. Brigman was one of the first women to photograph nudes in a wilderness landscape. Her images deliberately resemble charcoal drawings, as she sought to capture the spirit of her subject rather than a faithful reproduction.