Equivalent 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalent, with a camera, but the tones and textures feel like they could have been coaxed out of paint. Look at the way the upper branches and clouds reach and blend into each other, a dance between detail and atmosphere. It’s like Stieglitz is inviting us to consider the process of image-making itself, how light and shadow build form. The surface has this incredible range, from the velvety blacks of the tree to the wispy grays of the sky. You can almost feel the air moving through the leaves. It reminds me of the cloud paintings of John Constable, who was trying to capture the fleeting effects of light and weather with thick strokes of paint. Like Constable, Stieglitz encourages us to see art not as a static object, but as something alive, changing, and open to interpretation.