Georgia O'Keeffe c. 1924

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe, sometime in his long career of picturing her. Look at how he uses light, almost like a sculptor uses clay. The surface of the photograph is smooth, capturing O'Keeffe's face with incredible detail, but it's the tonal range, the blacks and whites, and all those grays in between, that give the image its depth. It's like he’s painting with light, carving out her features, the strong line of her jaw, and the soft curve of her hat. There’s a shadow that cuts across her brow, and the way it darkens her eyes makes you feel like you're looking into something unknowable. It's a very modern way of seeing, turning a person into an arrangement of shapes and tones. You can see this kind of stark contrast in some of the portraits of Lee Miller by Man Ray, this interest in a cool, abstracted portrayal. It reminds us that art is always in conversation, a back and forth across time, with endless possibilities.