Dorothy True 1919

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Dorothy True, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. Stieglitz was all about the process, and you can see that in the way he teases out the light and shadow here. It’s a pretty subdued palette – mostly blacks, whites, and grays, but the tones! They give the photograph a real sense of depth. There's a tension in the way the leg and shoe are placed. It feels casual but deliberate. And the textures—the shiny leather of the shoe, the soft fabric of the stocking—they're all so tactile. Notice the detail on the heel, how it curves and catches the light. It's almost sculptural, and the way it contrasts with the sharp point of the shoe is so striking. Stieglitz was always pushing the boundaries of photography as an art form, and he had an eye for the body. Think about someone like Robert Mapplethorpe who came later. Art is a dialogue across time, about different ways of seeing and experiencing the world.