Haunt Me for a Heretic
Anne Brigman, United States, 1869-1950 - Photographer
From a photography perspective, Anne Brigman remains one of the most influential and inspirational photographers in my life. I found Brigman’s work by chance roughly seven years ago when I saw the photo shown above. I was in awe, not only because the photograph is breathtaking or consists of something stunningly creative or visceral, but because I found out when it was made— 1909.
Anne was revolutionary in the sense of her style and way about photography. She was one of the first to explore heavy editing of her work, so much so that she was shunned by many colleagues for skewing and reworking photographs too much. World renowned names like Alfred Stieglitz turned her work away from promotion at first, but many, including Stieglitz, warmed up to her imagery.
She was also revolutionary in that her work largely consisted of self portraits and embraced feminism, which is what I find so alluring. While self portraits aren’t easy by any means, they are far easier to make in 2024 than they were in 1904.
Although the term “feminist art” was not coined until nearly 70 years after Brigman made her first photographs, the suggestion that her camera gave her the power to redefine her place as a woman in society establishes her as an important forerunner in the field. For Brigman to objectify her own nude body as the subject of her photographs in the early 1900s was radical. To do so outdoors in a place perceived as an unoccupied and near-desolate wilderness was revolutionary. No longer restricted by social norms or relegated to the role of model in the artist’s studio, Brigman, and the female artists who followed her, sought freedom by claiming their bodies and the landscape as their own. [1]
Women are, and always have been, afraid, and ordinarily they do not know what they are afraid of. They fear lest some of the little things of their domestic drudgery will go wrong and lead to some little inconvenience. They are afraid of their families when they are present and when they are absent. They fear to make changes and that is why they do not change… Part of the cure of fear in women is making changes. A man gets change by going down town to his daily work, but a stay at home woman does not and she suffers and grows afraid of things being different than what they are, or what she thinks they are.
— Anne Brigman quoted in the San Francisco Call, 1913
A little backstory:
In 1901, at the age of 32, Brigman began making photographs. She quickly immersed herself in the West Coast world of photography by joining the California Camera Club, which at the time boasted the largest membership of any photography club in the United States. Many of her earliest photographs were of family members, as well as landscapes. Largely similar to how most photographers get started. She was also accepted as an associate member in the coveted, Photo-Succession group run by Alfred Stieglitz, a challenging group to become a member of at the time. In 1906, she was elected a fellow of the group, the ONLY photographer west of the Mississippi to receive that honor and it was around this time where her photography started to become prolific. In 1908, Kodak held a competition for amateur photographers which she won, and a photograph of hers was featured on the cover of a Kodak Catalogue (shown below). And with the help of Stieglitz, she won many awards and was widely celebrated in pictorialist photography circles. [2]
Largely in reaction to stereotypical photographers (hobbyists), serious art photographers founded the pictorialist movement. These photographers believed that for photography to be respected as a fine art, it required thoughtful attention to composition and subject matter and skillful work in the darkroom. Using unique techniques such as covering lenses with gauze, scratching or etching negatives, or rendering lenses out of focus manually, this movement of photographers achieved photographs reminiscent of tonalist paintings. [2]
“Were I doing ‘studio nudes’ where the lights are managed and a perfectly well trained professional model takes on some ground-out pose—why I suppose all would go ‘happy as a marriage bell’—but I don’t. Where I go is wild—hard to reach… because there are things in life to be expressed in these places.”
— Anne Brigman, from a letter written in 1916
Like myself, and many artists, Anne found her greatest source of inspiration in poetry, particularly Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Whitman embraced the beauty and freedom of the human body and its intersections with nature, a core principle of her work. She was so inspired by poetry that later in her life she published a book titled ‘Songs of a Pagan’ that was a combination of poetry and photographs, something that photographers still publish together in modern times.
“Beloved Earth… I am weary of your mighty clasp.
Life crowds… I am exhausted with the stern decree
Of your relentless, aging, binding, bending grasp…”
— an excerpt from her poem “Cry” nearing the end of her life
As an “art photographer,” Brigman was met with a lot of disdain and negative reviews during her career. She was often accused of staging her outdoor photographs in trees in her studio, mainly because many people didn’t know what trees looked like in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains where she made them. She extensively manipulated negatives, often removing tree branches and rocks, and even added in clouds and other elements by printing from additional plates marked with pencil.
“I’ve swung far from the straight and narrow path of straight photography… I’ve done some hocus-pocus that would make the shadow of Daguerre haunt me for a heretic.”
— Anne Brigman
Many people were upset her photographs were even published, or won awards, because they weren’t true photographs. She was turned away from competitions and shows because of her manipulation. But Anne wouldn’t have any of it and constantly challenged her critics. She is documented in 1905 saying:
“Are we not living in an age in which we are free reasonably to do so as we please? Who is going to limit himself to one tool when two or more will make his workmanship more beautiful? I claim the right to run the gamut from lens to shoe-brush to gain a desired effect.”
I guess the question we would ask Anne Brigman today, if she were alive, is “What are your thoughts on A.I.?” Fortunately for you, the reader, and myself, I won’t dive into that possible answer.
Anne passed away in 1950 and left us a treasure trove of beautiful imagery to take in and absorb. You can find her work in galleries and permanent collections all around the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some of it in person and actually own a small little piece of her world, something I’m intensely happy about because of how finding her work changed my life, even if just by a little. Simply knowing she was creating photographs with such ferocity and self awareness 120 years ago should inspire the most casual artist. She changed the photography world, and dare I say art world, forever.
There is so much more “out there” about Anne I don’t have the time to delve into. I encourage you to browse the internet, and if you can find it, purchase a copy of the book ‘Anne Brigman: A Visionary in Modern Photography.’ It contains so much information and hundreds of photographs made by Anne during her life. ‘Songs of a Pagan’ is out there as well, it’s much more rare and fairly expensive. You can find, what I believe is the original manuscript, here, to view for free.
[1] Excerpt taken from an essay by Ann M. Wolfe featured in the book, ‘Anne Brigman’ published by Rizzoli Electa
[2] Information collected from an Essay by Susan Ehrens (featured in the book, ‘Anne Brigman’ published by Rizzoli Electa) as well as Wikipedia
Deeply grateful to you for sharing this. I'd never heard of Anne Brigman until ten minutes ago and now I feel my life is about to change.
Thank you for sharing this. I had never heard of her but will look online for more info.