Marsden Hartley 1911

Alfred Stieglitz made this portrait of Marsden Hartley with a camera, of course, and what strikes me is the way the light seems to have been coaxed and persuaded to reveal the sitter so slowly. There’s a real darkness here, and Hartley almost seems to emerge from it. The background is an ambiguous gloom, and the texture is velvety, creating a tactile, almost painterly feel. The details are sharp, but in a selective way. Notice how the eyes seem to catch the light, and the bow tie with its polka dots becomes a focal point. I’m drawn to how Stieglitz uses light and shadow to create a mood, a sense of introspection. Edward Steichen comes to mind as another photographer who was exploring similar terrain during this time, using photography not just to record, but to evoke, to find an equivalence for inner states of being. The beauty of art lies in its ability to open up these spaces, inviting us to pause and consider what we are seeing, and how it makes us feel.