Songs of the Sky G4 1923

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, Songs of the Sky G4, to explore photography as pure expression. It’s part of a series he called ‘equivalents’ – images of clouds meant to evoke inner states, rather than just representing weather. Made in the early 20th century United States, Stieglitz was active in promoting photography as a fine art, battling against the then-dominant view that it was merely a tool for documentation. He founded the Photo-Secession movement and gallery ‘291’ to showcase photography alongside modern painting and sculpture. In this context, the ‘equivalents’ were radical. Stieglitz challenged viewers to see beyond the literal subject matter and to recognize photography’s potential for abstraction and emotional impact. To truly understand this work, we need to look at the history of photography's institutional acceptance, and the debates around art’s function in a rapidly changing world. Examining Stieglitz's writings and the exhibition catalogs of '291' offer valuable insights into his artistic project.