Landscape with trees c. 1900

Joseph T. Keiley, a key figure in the Photo-Secession movement, created this landscape with trees using a platinum printing process. Keiley, a man of both privilege and conviction, moved in circles that challenged the norms of representation at the turn of the 20th century. This quiet scene, almost dreamlike, stands in stark contrast to the rapid industrialization reshaping American life at the time. There's a deliberate softness, a turning away from the sharp, documentary style of photography that was becoming increasingly common. Keiley instead embraces a subjective, emotional response to the landscape. It invites us to consider what it meant for artists of this era to seek refuge in nature, and how that act was itself shaped by the social and environmental changes they were witnessing. "Art is a personal emotion" Keiley once stated. This photograph echoes an enduring yearning for a simpler existence, one where the natural world offers solace and a space for personal reflection.