Long Underwear, Lake George 1924

Alfred Stieglitz took this photograph, "Long Underwear, Lake George", sometime around the early 20th century. In it, there's a plainness, a stillness, achieved through the shades of gray and the softness of the draped fabric. The material here is everything. The way the light catches the cloth, creating those subtle shadows, is like a study in form and texture. You can almost feel the coolness of the fabric, or the crispness of the air on a washing line. Look how the pocket hangs there, a small, perfect rectangle of shadow, adding depth to the composition. Stieglitz, like many artists, kept returning to the same basic ideas. Just like how artists like Georgia O'Keefe returned to the same subjects again and again. Like Agnes Martin said, "art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings."