"...one of the best known female photographers of the early 20th century.... In later life she abandoned photography, and she died unrecognized for her photographic accomplishments." Wikipedia "...best known for being Edward Weston’s lover, but she was also a talented photographer in her own right. Though working steadily from the 1910s to the 1930s, Mather has slipped into relative obscurity. Thankfully, historians including Nancy Newhall and Beth Warren have gone some way to correcting this, shedding light on Mather’s work and life. Born in Utah in 1886, Mather moved to California as a young woman, where she is believed to have worked as a prostitute for some time. In 1912 she became a member of the Los Angeles Camera Club; in the same year, she submitted a photograph to the annual American Salon. Titled The Maid of Arcady, Mather’s entry was a romantic, pastoral image in the pictorial style favoured at the time. It was later reproduced in the January 1913 issue of American Photography. In 1913, Mather met Weston and began to model for him. This was the beginning of a 12 year relationship, during which they worked closely together. Though they each maintained their own practice, they also collaborated; by 1921, they were co-signing photographs. Mather’s work gradually moved away from pictorialism and she experimented with more dramatic lighting and compositions. She also took portraits, photographing a number of performers including Charlie Chaplin and Vaslav Nijinsky. Weston would later write that Mather was ‘the first important person’ in his life. Mather’s work is notable for its sensual depiction of men, including her friend Billy Justema.... In perhaps Mather’s most famous photograph, Billy Justema in a Man’s Summer Kimono (1923), the camera closes in on Justema’s abdomen, his hands pulling the patterned fabric aside." http://irisveysey.com/2015/03/21/women-photographers-in-focus-margrethe-mather/ undefined

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