Marie Cosindas facts for kids

Marie Cosindas (September 22, 1923 – May 25, 2017) was an American photographer. She was known for her beautiful still lifes and colorful portraits. Her special use of color photography made her stand out in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of her photos were portraits or pictures of things like dolls, flowers, and masks.

In 1962, a famous photographer named Ansel Adams suggested Marie to Polaroid. She was asked to test their new instant color film. In 1966, she had a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She was one of the first women, and only the second color photographer, to have a show there.

About Marie Cosindas

Marie Cosindas was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 22, 1923. She was the eighth of ten children in a Greek immigrant family. Her father worked as a carpenter. Marie grew up in the South End area of Boston.

Early Life and Art

Marie first studied design at the Modern School of Fashion Design in Boston. She also learned painting at the Boston Museum School. From 1944 to 1960, she worked as a textile designer. This means she created patterns for fabrics. During this time, she also became part of a group of photographers. They were connected to the Carl Siembab Gallery in Boston.

Discovering Photography

Marie started using photography as her main art form during a trip to Greece. This was her family's home country. She used a special camera called a 2 1/4 square Rollieflex. She took many photos of the Greek landscape. At first, she planned to use these photos to create paintings. But she loved the photos so much that she decided to stop painting and focus on photography.

Learning from Masters

Marie studied with other famous photographers. She learned from Paul Caponigro and attended workshops with Ansel Adams in 1961. When she was with Ansel Adams, she mostly took black-and-white photos. She created many series of still lifes (pictures of arranged objects) and architectural photographs (pictures of buildings). She also worked with Minor White from 1963 to 1964.

Working with Color and Polaroid

In 1962, Ansel Adams recommended Marie to the Polaroid Corporation. Dr. Edwin H. Land, who founded Polaroid, invited her to test their new instant-developing color film. Marie was one of about a dozen photographers chosen for this. From then on, she worked only with color. She learned to change parts of the process to get the warm colors she liked.

Using Polaroid film helped Marie. It freed her from the technical steps of making color prints. This meant she could focus only on her images. She used only natural light and often had only a few minutes to photograph her subjects. This way, Marie created many unique portraits of well-known people. She also made beautiful still life photos. These included flowers, fruits, textiles, jewelry, and other small objects. Marie carefully arranged these items before photographing them.

The Association of Heliographers

Marie Cosindas helped start a group called the Association of Heliographers. This was a cooperative for photographers in New York. It included some of the most important American art photographers of the 1960s. Other co-founders included Paul Caponigro, William Clift, Walter Chappell, and Carl Chiarenza. Their first public show was on July 1, 1963. The group wanted to show how photography could capture the world in a meaningful way, not just mechanically.

Impact and Recognition

Marie Cosindas used a view camera, natural light, and color filters in her work. Her photos were very important in making color photography accepted as fine art in the 1960s. Her solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1966 was one of the first there to feature color photography.

Marie's work has been shown in many major exhibitions. It is also part of many important art collections. She took portraits of famous people like Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Faye Dunaway, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Ezra Pound, and Tom Wolfe.

Marie also taught at the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University. In 2013, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. This was part of an exhibition called Marie Cosindas: A Life of Color. She also received other awards, including a Guggenheim grant and a Rockefeller grant. She earned honorary degrees from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and the Art Institute of Boston.

Marie Cosindas passed away on May 25, 2017, in Boston. She was 93 years old.