New York from 405 E 54th Street 1937

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, New York from 405 E 54th Street, sometime in his life; he died in 1946. The tones feel almost like a drawing, a very soft, controlled palette. It feels tonal, the process like he’s building up layers, rubbing them away, adding more, and then stopping. Stieglitz is doing something interesting with distance. There's the tennis court right in front, with the hint of figures moving, and the wide expanse of water, and then, in the distance, the blurry buildings. He's making a sort of sandwich with space; the dark water is almost like a material, like sticky glue. My eye is drawn to the boat in the middle of the river, with its little puff of smoke. That puff is so small, but it makes me think about the scale of the whole scene. It calls to mind the painter Gerhard Richter, who also blurred photography, and Stieglitz’s work certainly has a similar effect. Ultimately, art's about seeing, right? But it’s also about not being able to see everything clearly.