Untitled (Stieglitz, Agnes, mother Hedwig, Julius, Selma, and Lee on Oaklawn steps) c. 1910 - 1912

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph with his camera, capturing his family on the steps of a house, probably sometime in the early 20th century. It’s a family portrait, but like many photos from that time, there’s a formality to it, a stillness. The tones are muted, almost sepia, giving it a timeless quality. Look at the way the light falls on their faces, highlighting the details – the lines, the textures of their clothing. Each person seems to be holding a bit of themselves back. I’m drawn to the contrast between the softness of the light and the crispness of the details, the way the image captures a moment in time, but also suggests so much more. There's a kind of echo of this approach in the paintings of Gerhard Richter, who used photography as a source to explore themes of memory, history, and representation. Both Stieglitz and Richter seem to be saying something about how we see and remember, about the elusiveness of reality itself.