Georgia O'Keeffe 1929

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, a portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, using a process with roots in industrial chemistry. Photography's seemingly automatic nature can obscure the hand of the artist. Here, Stieglitz's skill is evident in the tonal range he coaxes from the gelatin silver medium. The texture of O'Keeffe's dress, the grain of the wooden door, and the soft light on her face are all carefully rendered. The darkroom processes were crucial to Stieglitz's artistic vision. Gelatin silver prints, due to their reproducibility, democratized image-making. But in the hands of a master like Stieglitz, the medium transcends its industrial origins, becoming a vehicle for profound artistic expression. In appreciating the final print, we also acknowledge the labor and skill invested in its making, both in front of and behind the camera. This makes us consider the hierarchies that often separate photography from more traditional forms of art.