In 1902, after eight years of marriage, Anne Brigman saw a photography exhibition that changed her life. It awakened in her a passion as an artist -- an artist not just in photography but in the theater and in literature. She was awakened as a woman to levels of freedom and expression she had not enjoyed before. For her, this new calling was a fight and she was determined from the first to succeed in it. It wasn't long before her photographs of nude females posed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains were commanding attention internationally and in the influential photographic circles on the East Coast led by Alfred Stieglitz. Quickly she rose to a place among the highest ranks of those recognized as artistic photographers in the pictorialist period in photographic history. In 1910 she left her comfortable middle-class life and devoted herself completely to this life as an artist. And in this life she was constantly renewing herself. In her senior years she explored the gift for writing she had long known she had. She wrote poetry giving voice to the many beautiful photographs she had created over the years and combined these in two books of photographs and poems. Hers was a full, free life of artistic expression, a monument to the kind of freedom women across the society were longing for and finding in a variety of ways.
In her later years Brigman developed romantic relationships with other women. This is the first study of Brigman to document and discuss her sexuality and its influence on her photography and poetry.
James Rhem is an independent scholar in the history of photography. His previous books include Ralph Eugene Meatyard: The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater and Other Figurative Photographs (New York: D.A.P., 2002), the Photo Poche Ralph Eugene Meatyard (Paris: Editions Nathan, 2000), and the Phaidon 55 Aaron Siskind (London: Phaidon Press, 2003). He has written catalogue essays on Wynn Bullock (Chicago: Daiter Gallery, 2002) and articles on August Sander and William Eggleson for San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's photography newsletter, fotoforum Fall/Winter 2002-2004, as well as numerous reviews of photographic exhibitions for local and regional publications. He took a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979 and is the founding Executive Editor of The National Teaching & Learning FORUM, a publication on college teaching that he created in 1990. His involvement with photography, which began as a teenager, is both aesthetic and technical. He has been an exhibiting photographer whose work has been shown in nationally juried exhibitions. At least one of his regional exhibitions included only photography created via antique processes.
"This volume represents a perfect union of two great independent spirits: the photo-historian James Rhem and his subject, photographer Annie Brigman. This book is a record of deeply personal passions: the ideas that motivated Brigman's unique creative career, and Rhem's devotion to—and equally original vision of—the history of photography. The result of years of research and analytical thought, this is an important addition to the scholarship of modern photography." — Keith F. Davis, Former Senior Curator of Photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
"Anne Brigman's Songs retraces the journey of an artist, poet, and trailblazer whose oeuvre reached beyond the shadow of New York's art circles. Drawing from a rich tapestry of sources, the book repositions Brigman as a visionary shaped by the rugged beauty of late nineteenth-century Hawai'i and mid-twentieth-century California. Mr. Rhem crafts a compelling narrative that challenges traditional interpretations and invites readers to see Brigman's biography and work entwined and anew." — Carolin Görgen, Associate Professor of American Studies, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
"Here, accomplished scholar James Rhem presents a unique and insightful text on one of the mostrevered creative photographers of the early twentieth century. He delves into Brigman's pictures andwritings to reveal new analysis of her artistic vision and unusual lifestyle. Rhem also provides revealingannotations of the subject's two sets of poems, one of them previously unpublished. The book is adelightful read that will appeal to numerous audiences." — Christian A. Peterson, Former curator of photograpy at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
"James Rhem has written a biography, a long overdue examination of the life and works of a remarkable first-wave feminist, Anne Brigman, photographer, poet, adventurer.Throughout the last century since her early prominence, Brigman's reputation has soared and faltered. Her work has been celebrated and denigrated by critics and historians. Nevertheless, this fearless woman continued to break bounds not only as a woman but as an artist and writer. Her life is of particular meaning to our current generation of creative aspirants who seek independence and self-expression through their craft.Rhem is a remarkable scholar, not only did he examine the art Brigman produced, but also her letters, poems, writings, press and criticism, and has put together a narrative of an inspired, independent and fulfilled artist." — Charles H. Traub, Chairperson of the MFA in Photography, Video, and Related Media at the School of Visual Arts
