Songs of the Sky or Equivalent 1923 - 1929

Editor: This gelatin-silver print, "Songs of the Sky or Equivalent," was created by Alfred Stieglitz sometime between 1923 and 1929. It’s just…clouds. But somehow, the monochrome palette and almost abstract composition are incredibly evocative. What am I meant to take away from just a picture of clouds? Curator: Think about the historical moment. Stieglitz made these photos after World War I, a period of immense social and cultural upheaval. The traditional values were in question, so where did people turn? Editor: Well, the spiritual? A focus on the internal? Curator: Precisely. Consider also that Stieglitz called these “Equivalents.” What do you think that suggests? Editor: That they are… equivalent to something else? Not just pictures of clouds, but symbolic of something more? Maybe a stand-in for human emotion? Curator: Exactly. These photographs were exhibited and discussed within a rapidly changing art world. Many artists felt bound to depicting reality – and this reality seemed dark. What ways were available to them for making art while showing resistance? Was landscape necessarily separate from personal politics? Editor: So, rather than directly represent that darkness, Stieglitz used these photographs to evoke internal landscapes, offering a way to address societal anxieties through abstraction and symbolism? Curator: It is a way to skirt the boundary of government or social restrictions by cloaking meaning in abstraction, right? Consider the political context alongside Stieglitz’s artistic intentions. What’s your view? Editor: It recontextualizes something as simple as clouds, turning them into a powerful statement on society. Thank you, that’s given me so much to think about. Curator: And me as well, it's so valuable to rethink art from an historical context, to see it is never really 'just' art, right?