Equivalent 1926

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, with a camera, and the result feels so much like a painting. What an idea, that the sky, usually a backdrop, can become the subject. There’s a real sense of the hand here. The tones and textures, from the inky blacks to the luminous greys, remind me of charcoal drawings. Look at how the light filters and bleeds, creating soft and blurred edges that could be a masterclass in chiaroscuro. It makes me want to grab a brush. I think of Gerhard Richter’s cloud paintings and the way he’s able to create something so ethereal, but also so substantial. Both artists are interested in the idea of capturing something fleeting and ephemeral, but also in the material qualities of their chosen medium. What does it mean to make something solid out of thin air?