Marie Cosindas (September 22, 1923 – May 25, 2017) was an American photographer. She was best known for her evocative still lifes and color portraits. Her use of

color photography Color photography (also spelled as colour photography in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray-monochrome ...

in her work distinguished her from other photographers in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of her photographs were portraits and pictures of objects like dolls, flowers, and masks. In 1962, Ansel Adams recommended Cosindas to Polaroid for their artist trial of their new instant-developing color film. She was the fifth woman, and only the second photographer working in color, to have a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in 1966.

Biography

Cosindas was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 22, 1923, the eighth of ten children born to a Greek immigrant family. Her father was a carpenter. She grew up in the South End.William Grimes
Marie Cosindas, Whose Photographs Brought Color to the Fore, Dies at 93
''New York Times'' (June 2, 2017). After initially studying design at the Modern School of Fashion Design in Boston and painting at the Boston Museum School, she worked as a textile designer from 1944 to 1960. During this period she began to integrate with, and eventually became part of the stable of photographers that belonged to the Carl Siembab Gallery, with whom she shared a building in Boston. It was during a trip to her family's homeland, Greece, that Cosindas began to use photography as her primary medium. Using a 2 1/4 square Rollieflex, Cosindas took snapshots of the Grecian landscape, which she intended to later translate into paintings. However, she was so taken with the photographic results she gave up painting. Cosindas studied with

Paul Caponigro Paul John Jerome Caponigro (December 7, 1932 – November 10, 2024) was an American photographer, writer and pianist. His best known photographs are ''Running White Deer'' and ''Galaxy Apple.'' His subject matter includes landscape and still life, ...

and attended photography workshops with

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

in 1961. While studying with Ansel Adams, she worked almost exclusively in the medium of black-and-white photography, making several series of

still lifes A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

and architectural photographs. She also worked with

Minor White Minor Martin White (July 9, 1908 – June 24, 1976) was an American photographer, theoretician, critic, and educator. White made photographs of landscapes, people, and abstract subject matter. They showed technical mastery and a strong sense o ...

during 1963-1964. In 1962, recommended by Ansel Adams, Cosindas was one of about a dozen photographers who were invited by Dr.

Edwin Land Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS, FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical ...

and the

Polaroid Corporation Polaroid Corporation was an American company that made instant film and cameras, which survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit his Polaroid (polarizer), Polaroid polarizing polyme ...

to test their new instant-developing color film. From this time she began to work exclusively in color, manipulating various components of the process to produce the warm tones she preferred. Cosindas found that using Polaroid freed her from all the technicalities involved in making color prints, and she was able to concentrate just on her images. Using only available light and often having only a few minutes in which to photograph her subjects, Cosindas produced a remarkably distinct portfolio of portraits of well-known figures. In addition to her portraits, Cosindas created evocative still life images incorporating flowers, fruits and vegetables, textiles, jewelry, trinkets, and other objects Cosindas carefully arranged then photographed. Along with

William Clift William Clift FRS (14 February 1775 – 20 June 1849) was a British illustrator and conservator. Early life Clift was born in Burcombe near Bodmin in Cornwall. He was the youngest of seven children and grew up in poverty following his fat ...

Walter Chappell Walter Landon Chappell (June 8, 1925 – August 8, 2000) was an American photographer and poet, primarily known for his black and white photography of landscapes, nature, and the human body. Early life Chappell was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1 ...

and

Carl Chiarenza Carl Chiarenza (born 1935) is an American art photographer. He works predominantly in black and white photography. From 1979, he has worked entirely in the studio, creating abstract compositions using materials such as torn paper and aluminum foi ...

, Cosindas co-founded the Association of Heliographers, a New York photographers' cooperative that included some of the most influential American art photographers of the 1960s. The Heliographers' first public exhibition took place on 1 July 1963. The show promoted 'camera vision' as a way of seeing and recording the world meaningfully rather than mechanically". Using a view camera, natural light and color filters, Cosindas's work played a vital role in establishing the use of color in fine art photography during the 1960s and her solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1966 was one of the institution's first to feature color photography. A number of major exhibitions of her work have been held, and it is featured in many prominent collections. Subjects of her portraits work include

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

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and

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, among others. Cosindas lectured at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. In conjunction with the PRC 2013 Gala, Cosindas was featured in the exhibition ''Marie Cosindas: A Life of Color'', and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. Other awards received during her career include a Guggenheim grant, a Rockefeller grant, and honorary degrees from Philadelphia's

Moore College of Art Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1848 by Sarah Peter, Sarah Worthington Peter as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and was renamed the Moore Colleg ...

and the

Art Institute of Boston Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1909 to educate teachers. Originally founded as a women's college, male students were admitted beginning in 2005. History 1909–1998 The ...

. Cosindas died on May 25, 2017, in Boston, at the age of 93.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosindas, Marie 1923 births 2017 deaths School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni 20th-century American photographers American people of Greek descent 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women Photographers from Boston