Margrethe Mather

Imogen Cunningham's 1922 portrait of Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston

Florence Deshon with fan (1921) by Mather

Margrethe Mather (4 March 1886 – 25 December 1952) was a photographer who, through her exploration of light and form, helped to transform photography into a modern art.

Personal life

She was born Emma Caroline Youngreen. In her youth she may have worked as a prostitute.

Career

Mather was associated with Edward Weston. They were close companions who collaborated on many photographs. His fame continues to overshadow Mather's considerable work from the period of their collaboration and afterwards. Mather and Weston met in 1913 and worked together until he departed for Mexico in 1923 with Tina Modotti. The photographs Mather made, both alone and in collaboration with Weston, helped set the stage for the shift from pictorialism (softly focused images giving the photograph a romantic quality) to modernity. Many of her photographs were more experimental than those being produced by her contemporaries.

Mather found a dear friend and model in a young man named William Justema, who would later write about her in his memoir. Her last exhibition was held in 1931 at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. This exhibition consisted of a group of images in which objects such as seashells, chains, glass eyes, and combs were arranged in repetitive patterns to demonstrate how photography could be used to create prototypes for fabric designs. Mather's work is featured in the book, Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration (W.W. Norton & Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2001).[1]

External links

• Gallery of Mather's and Weston's photos

Persondata
Name	Mather, Margrethe
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 March 1886
Place of birth
Date of death	25 December 1952
Place of death