Linn Underhill Explained

Linn Underhill
Birth Name:Linn Baldwin
Birth Date:August 8, 1936
Birth Place:Sutter Creek, California
Death Date:May 3, 2019
Death Place:Lisle, New York
Education:B.F.A., 1978, Alfred UniversityM.F.A., 1982, Visual Studies Workshop, SUNY Buffalo
Known For:Photography, Artist's Books

Linn Underhill (August 8, 1936 – May 3, 2019) was an American photographer and professor. Underhill was best known for work that challenged cultural and societal conventions of gender identity and sexuality. Her work was considered innovative in its portrayal of women and aging.[1]

Life

Born as Linn Baldwin to Carol and Dwight Baldwin of Lafayette, California,[2] Underhill was encouraged by her father to engage in traditionally masculine pursuits, such as mechanics and hunting. Her father died of cancer when she was 12. As a student of Minor White at the San Francisco Art Institute, she met Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, and Edward Weston, among other photographers then based in the Bay Area.[3] In 1951, she moved to Massachusetts to attend Stockbridge School. Underhill briefly studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Her career was paused for about 15 years after she married William Underhill in 1957 and raised their children.[4] Resuming her career in the mid-1970s with an internship at the George Eastman Museum, she earned her B.F.A. from Alfred University in 1978 and her M.F.A. from SUNY Buffalo in 1982.

After getting her M.F.A., Underhill taught photography at various institutions, including SUNY Binghamton, Cornell University, Ithaca College, and Syracuse University. In 1992, Underhill was appointed to the Department of Art and Art History at Colgate University, where she remained for the rest of her academic career.[5]

Linn Underhill married sculptor William Underhill on June 25, 1957. The couple had three children—Sarah, Joseph, and Katherine. The marriage ended in divorce in 1989 after a lengthy separation. In February 2019, Underhill married her long-time companion, Ann Carter.[6] Underhill and Carter had previously held a commitment ceremony in 1991, before same-sex marriage was recognized in New York. Linn Underhill died of cancer on May 3, 2019.

Works

In 1981, Underhill published "Thirty Five Years / One Week", a visual narrative of the last week of her sister's life.[7] The work used visual images and a typewritten diary, and the effect was described as "highly pictorial, even cinematic in its flow, with dramatic variations from page to page . . . "[8]

Her “Claiming the Gaze” was described as a “successful attempt to rescue the female subject from her typically objectified position within artwork.”[9]

“NoMan’s Land” consisted of a series of self-portraits as various male subjects in the style of George Platt Lynes.

Select exhibitions

Collections

Publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Silas . Susan . Linn Underhill: Analogue Body Extraordinaire .
  2. Web site: February 17, 2019. Recovering my Father. Storycorps.
  3. Web site: Underhill. Linn. Official Website.
  4. Web site: Oral history interview with William Underhill. June 8, 2002. Smithsonian Institution.
  5. News: Turkyilmaz. Celine. Summer 2019. A Force of Life: Remembering Linn Underhill. Colgate Magazine.
  6. News: Linn Baldwin Underhill. Obituary.
  7. Book: Underhill, Linn. Thirty five years/one week. 1981. Visual Studies Workshop. Press. 0-89822-019-X. Rochester, New York. 8462961.
  8. Women's Vision Extends the Map of Memory. Michigan Quarterly Review. 2027/spo.act2080.0026.001:38.
  9. News: Chase . Alicia . A Fine Disregard for Gender . 2 . AfterImage, University of California . 2010. 38 .
  10. Web site: Harvard. Harvard Art Museums. 2021-04-02. harvardartmuseums.org. en.
  11. Web site: Light Work Collection / Individual / Linn Underhill [Underhill, Linn]]. 2021-04-02. collection.lightwork.org.