Peggy Davidson 1924

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, titled "Peggy Davidson," on a small sheet of paper. It's interesting how Stieglitz gets such a range of grays out of what seems like not that much. There's a real attention to the process of seeing at play here. Look at the girl's hair; it's a bit messy, sure, but it's also got this incredible luminosity, almost like a halo. The way the light falls on her face, with those soft shadows, it's so gentle, so intimate. The detail in her eyes is incredible, too, so clear and precise. It reminds me of some of those early modernist portraits, like the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, where there's this real focus on capturing the inner life of the sitter. But Stieglitz also has this sense of immediacy, of capturing a fleeting moment. It's like he's saying, "Look, this is what it feels like to be alive, to be present in this moment." And maybe that's what art is all about, after all.