Judith 1922

Here is a photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, who lived from 1864 to 1946. It's of a bust of a woman, maybe Judith? Who knows. It looks like a photo of a sculpture in a domestic space, propped up with a plant on a dark cabinet. The greyscale makes me think about the way the camera sees: abstracting color into light and dark. I wonder what it was like for Stieglitz to decide what to include and exclude from the frame. There's a certain play of light and shadow that adds depth and mystery to the photograph. The decision to photograph sculpture is interesting. Was he in conversation with sculptors of the time like Rodin or Brancusi? It’s all a bit ambiguous, really. But that’s what keeps it interesting. Artists are always riffing on each other's ideas, creating new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.