Georgia O'Keeffe 1922

This is a portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, a photograph made using gelatin silver print. It's not just a picture; it's a record of a relationship, of looking and being looked at. The silver gelatin gives the image a range of grays that feel almost tactile. Look at the way the light catches O'Keeffe’s face, her cheekbone, the corner of her eye. It's stark, but also tender. And then there's the wood panel beside her, its grain and nail heads rendered with the same careful attention. That panel is so important; it is not just some background, it emphasizes the texture of the image, almost like a painting. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's blurry photographs, transformed into paintings, or maybe even some of the stark portraits by Alice Neel. It's not about capturing a likeness, but about capturing something deeper, something about the act of seeing itself. Art is like that, an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and feeling the world in new ways.