Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand
The MET’s current exhibition features three late 19th century – early 20th century photographers, Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand, with 115 photographs from the MET’s permanent collection (I know, how are these not always being featured?).
“Dancing Trees,” was taken by Stieglitz, who stands as the forerunner in this group of talented men. He evidently provided the seed gift (so to speak), for the MET’s photographic collection, donating 22 of his own works in 1922. Isn’t this incredible? The MET, what a dream! He is apparently my favorite from the database provided of this exhibit; of my favorites below, three are his. He is credited with “Shadows in the Lake” (1916) and “Mrs. Selma Schubart” (1907). I can’t resist Mrs. Selma’s color palette.
“The Flatiron” (1904) is credited to Steichen, a “protégé” of Stieglitz. The Flatiron building, as I know I have always belabored, holds a sentimental place in my memories. Nestled near Madison Square Park this beautiful area of the City, houses a fantastic garden and the Shake Shack (which is always worth the wait). It is perfectly seated north of Union Square and just south of the Empire State Building. The exhibition describes this work as follows:
Together with two variant prints in other colors, also in the Museum's collection, "The Flatiron" is the quintessential chromatic study of twilight. Clearly indebted in its composition to the Japanese woodcuts that were in vogue at the turn of the century and in its coloristic effect to the "Nocturnes" of Whistler, this picture is a prime example of the conscious effort of photographers in the circle of Alfred Stieglitz to assert the artistic potential of their medium. [emphasis added]
Paul Strand, is credited with “Conversations” (1916) below. He took his photographs on the streets of New York City and is touted by the exhibit as “pioneer[ing] a shift from the soft-focus Pictorialist aesthetic to the straight approach and graphic power of an emerging modernism.”
