Military Parade, New York Possibly 1918 - 1937

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Military Parade, New York, using gelatin silver. Look at the way Stieglitz renders the crowd, a sea of umbrellas and hats. It’s a mass of individuals blurred into a collective, a feeling I try to capture in my own painting process. The tones range from near-white to deep black, creating a kind of visual rhythm. The umbrellas and hats of the crowd, become a field of repeated forms. There's a negotiation between the overall pattern and the individual marks, something that makes the image so dynamic, so alive. Notice the dark figures of the soldiers marching in formation, stark against the bright street. Each one is a small, dark mark contributing to the overall composition. Thinking about the photograph, I am reminded of the work of Jacob Lawrence, another artist who explored themes of American life. Stieglitz's photograph, like Lawrence's paintings, doesn't offer easy answers. Instead, it embraces the complexities and contradictions of the world, inviting us to look closer, to question, and to imagine.