Georgia O'Keeffe 1924 - 1929

Curator: This is one of several portraits taken by Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O'Keeffe between 1924 and 1929, using gelatin-silver print photography. There’s a profound austerity to it. Editor: Yes, my immediate sense is its tonal qualities and textures that convey both strength and vulnerability in the sitter. It feels raw and honest, with few distractions. It is hard to see the handmade nature of this print since so much is based on chemistry and technology. Curator: Absolutely, that tension is at the heart of its visual interest. Look at the contrast: O’Keeffe’s stark white collar against her dark coat. And the expansiveness of the background sky. It frames her face like a compositional element, emphasizing her direct gaze. There are clear pictorialist tendencies here. Editor: And considering this work, what are the material realities we aren't seeing here, the conditions required for this artistic endeavor? The resources needed to print photography in the first place. Or the labour to set up this shot. How did they work to find that balance? It’s easy to assume the final product is pure talent. Curator: You are right to highlight the constructedness of even what feels most natural. Stieglitz and O’Keeffe certainly knew how to control the narrative of their image and their production. Each compositional element feels charged with intention. Editor: Indeed. That is why thinking about material production and working conditions adds critical context to an art historical record of a singular aesthetic statement, such as O'Keeffe’s stern gaze. The human element can never really be separated. Curator: Perhaps. What’s striking is the modernity he was able to capture and present through photography and in relationship to one of modernism’s giants. There’s so much in that single image plane to interpret even today. Editor: It prompts me to remember that photography is a labor of production as well as artistic direction. That tension informs a lot of what Stieglitz presents here, a dialogue on image and substance.