Songs of the Sky 1923

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, "Songs of the Sky," as part of his lifelong effort to establish photography as a fine art in the United States. Stieglitz saw photography as a means of direct expression, comparable to painting or music. He took these photographs of clouds around his family's summer home in Lake George, New York. This was during a period when he was trying to define the possibilities of photography beyond simply documenting reality. Stieglitz gave this series the abstract title “Songs of the Sky,” or “Equivalents,” in order to emphasize the artistic and expressive capabilities of photography. Stieglitz was deeply involved in the New York art world, and he ran several galleries, like the 291, which promoted modern art and photography. By divorcing photography from its traditional role, he was able to show that the photograph could be just as evocative and free as any painting. To truly understand this image, one needs to look at exhibition records, period publications, and the artist's own writings. The meaning of this photograph shifts depending on the social and institutional context in which it is viewed.