Marie J. Rapp 1915

Alfred Stieglitz made this portrait of Marie J. Rapp with a camera, and the grey tones have a painterly quality. Look at how Stieglitz coaxes the light to describe form. What strikes me is the range of tone – from the dense dark of the fur hat and collar to the soft, luminous grays that model her face. The texture is palpable, almost tactile; you can practically feel the plushness of the fur against your skin. The slight blurring around the edges, combined with the richness of the darks, gives it an intimate, dreamlike quality. The way the light catches the bridge of her nose, or the gentle curve of her cheek, each detail contributes to a sense of quiet introspection. It reminds me of some of the tonalist painters like Whistler, who used a similarly restrained palette to create atmospheric, mood-drenched images. Like them, Stieglitz seems less interested in capturing a literal likeness than in evoking a feeling, a state of mind. It’s a reminder that photography, like painting, is as much about seeing as it is about feeling.