The Swimming Lesson Possibly 1906 - 1911

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, of a swimming lesson, maybe a hundred years ago. I’m immediately drawn to the way he's captured the movement of the water – it's almost like brushstrokes, swirling and alive. I can almost feel the cool water lapping around my ankles! It makes me think about how photographers and painters are constantly in conversation. They're both chasing light and trying to freeze a moment in time, even though their tools are so different. What do you think Stieglitz was thinking when he took this picture? Was he focused on the composition, the way the figures interact with the water? Or was he simply trying to capture a tender, fleeting moment between a mother and child? Maybe he was thinking about the feeling of weightlessness you have in water. However you want to look at it, that photograph reminds us that artists are always learning from each other. Each artwork is like a brushstroke in the ongoing conversation of art.