The Unmade Bed, By Imogen Cunningham

The Unmade Bed was photographed in 1957 and is a stunning still life image captured by Imogen Cunningham. In a mostly dark room there is simple unmade bed with gentle folds in the plain white sheets. Even though the bed is unmade and disorderly the image produces a warm inviting feeling for the viewer. In the foreground of the image there are a few hairpins off-centered on the bed. Natural light illuminates in through the left side of the photograph and softly disperses over the bed creating several shadows in the sheets. This picture is captivating because she photographed a familiar setting but enhanced the composition ever so slightly by adding in the hair pins. This photograph was created Cunningham produced this print by using a silver gelatin process.

The moderate contrast and the minor dark areas allow the focus to be of the natural ruffles of the white sheets while the well-defined hairpins disrupt the smoothness and capture my attention. The composition is stunning and follows the rule of thirds very nicely. The photograph’s tones go all the way from the whitest white to the blackest black and everything in-between. I believe the photograph was taken at dawn because of the way the light seems to enter from a window near the bed as well as the softness of the light. The combination of shadows and textures produce an intimate and dreamy atmosphere. The entire image is made up of curved lines which create effortlessness beauty. Everything is in focus which guides my eyes to circle around the frame following the curves and folds in the sheets. It is unclear if there is an individual in the bed or not but I believe that adds to the mysterious aspect. The photograph is both simple and yet delicate in the way in which she deals with the subject