Sonya Noskowiak

Noskowiak was born in Leipzig, Germany. Her father was a landscape gardener who instilled in her an awareness of the land that would later become evident in her photography.[1] In her early years, she moved around the world while her father sought work in Chile, then Panama, before finally settling in Los Angeles, California in 1915. In 1919, she moved to San Francisco to enroll in secretarial school.[2] Interested in photography at an early age, in 1925, Noskowiak would become a receptionist in Johan Hagemeyer's photographic studio in Los Angeles County. Upon expressing her interest in photography Hagemeyer, wrote off dream as a joke in his diary.

In early April 1929, Noskowiak met photographer Edward Weston at a party and the two began dating immediately; her eventually becoming his model, muse, pupil, and assistant. Weston first taught her to spot photos—touching up flaws in prints—before he giving her first professional camera. This camera included no film and for several months Noskowiak worked with Weston pretending to photograph while he taught her the mechanics of photography. During her time with Weston Noskowiak's photography developed tremendously showcasing her understanding of craftsmanship, as well as her own style. Several of Weston's works, such as Red Cabbage Halved and Artichoke Halved, were inspired by Noskowiak's early negatives.Weston even once stated: "Any of these I would sign as my own." Dora Hagemeyer (sister-in-law of Johan) wrote that while Noskowiak's photographic style was clean and direct like Weston's, she "put into her work something which is essentially her own: a subtle and delicate loveliness."[3]

Photography in the late 1800s and early 1900s was defined by pictorialism, a style that refers to a photographer manipulating an otherwise straightforward photograph in the means of 'creating'. This was in response to claims that photography was not an art but merely scientific documentation.[4] Weston and other photographers began to turn away from pictorialism, with many having growing concerns about their place in photography. In 1932 Noskowiak became an organizing member of the short-lived Group f/64, which included such important photographers as Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Weston and his son Brett. Noskowiak's works were shown at Group f/64's inaugural exhibition at San Francisco's M. H. de Young Museum; she had nine photographs in the exhibit – the same number as Weston.[5] .[5]

In the summer of 1933, Noskowiak, along with Weston and Van Dyke, traveled to New Mexico for scenery shots. Her photographs Cottonwood Tree - Taos, New Mexico, and Ovens, Taos Pueblo, New Mexico both are from this trip and differ from her previous work. Cottonwood Tree is not nearly as intimate as her other works while Ovens is the earliest of her work to focus on human-made culture. Later that summer, she had her first solo show at Denny-Watrous Gallery in Carmel. The exhibition included a series of photographs from New Mexico. She held another solo exhibition at 683 Brockhurst in November. Between 1933 and 1940, she participated in a few of Group f.64 exhibitions, including shows such as the Fine Arts Gallery in San Diego, Fresno State College, and the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.

Noskowiak and Weston broke up in 1935, Group f. 64 disbanded shortly thereafter. Perhaps, due to her frayed relationship with Weston and perhaps because other members of the group were going their separate ways.[6] Although writings from Noskowiak began to dwindle during this time her career did not. Noskowiak also moved to San Francisco and opened a portrait studio this same year. This same year Noskowiak moved to San Francisco to open a portrait studio on Union Street. In 1936, she was one of eight photographers, including Weston, selected for the California region of the Federal Art Project to document California during the Great Depression

Noskowiak also engaged in commercial work and commissions to make a living. After Groupf.64 dissolved, she spent the next year photographing California artists and their paintings, sculptures, and murals. These images then toured to a variety of public institutions. Though she continued to photograph as an artist, Noskowiak's livelihood from the 1940s on was based on portraiture, fashion and architectural images. Noskowiak photographed many prominent figures such as painter Jean Charlot, dancer Martha Graham, composer Edgard Varèse, teenage violinist Isaac Stern, and writers Langston Hughes and John Steinbeck.[2] The portrait of Steinbeck is particularly powerful, and is one of only a handful of images of the writer in the 1930s. It is used extensively to this day.[7] She continued commercial photography up until the 1960s, photographing images for manufactures of lamps and stoves, as well as for architects.