Selfies

The Effortless Honesty of Anne Noggle

Anne Noggle, ca. 1943 and ca. 1987

Anne Noggle was irascible, willful and tough. During WWII, Anne was a WASP (Women’s Air Service Pilot), towing targets that were used for artillery practice behind her plane. After the war, she worked as a crop duster before taking up photography. She was a student of Van Deren Coke’s at the University of New Mexico and later served as Photography Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe.

Her photographs, specifically, her self-portraits, are among the most significant photographic art of the late 20th Century. Using herself as the subject, they address aging, self-image and emotional vulnerability in women. Noggle’s work, in my opinion, relates well to Cindy Sherman’s “Film Stills,” self-portraits commenting on stereotypical roles of women in 1950s films. Together, the photographs of Sherman and Noggle would make a splendid show. Below is a selection of Anne’s photographs.