House and Poplars, Lake George 1934

Alfred Stieglitz took this photograph, House and Poplars, Lake George, using gelatin silver print. I love how the house sits back there, doesn't it? Like it's observing from a little distance... Imagine Stieglitz, setting up his equipment, framing the scene, considering the light. In a way, he is already painting with light. The contrast is pretty cool, huh? The way the house and the poplar trees reach up to the sky, asserting their presence, their weight. The house feels almost like a person. I wonder, was he thinking about people and nature as separate things? What would it be like to live there? To be part of that landscape? When I look at this picture, it makes me think about other paintings, about Hopper’s houses or the landscapes of the Hudson River School. You see? Artists are always looking at each other’s stuff, riffing off ideas. It's a long, ongoing conversation. Stieglitz asks questions, he doesn’t tell us what to see.