Dorothy Schubart 1919 - 1922

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph of Dorothy Schubart using gelatin silver. What strikes me is the way the light seems to soften everything, almost like memory itself. There's a hazy quality, particularly in the background, which gives the image a dreamlike feel. The textures are muted, but you can still sense the weight of her coat and the smooth surface of the oar she's leaning on. Look closely at her eyes: there's a directness there, but also a hint of something hidden, a depth that invites you to wonder what she's thinking. The soft focus around her hair almost feels like a halo. Stieglitz, like many artists of his time, was pushing photography toward abstraction, exploring the ways a photograph could be more than just a record of reality, but a translation of inner experience. You see something similar in the work of Georgia O'Keeffe, also his lover. Both of them using their chosen media to explore the nuances of feeling, seeing, and being in the world.