Kitty Stieglitz c. 1908

This is Alfred Stieglitz’s photograph of Kitty, printed with what looks like a hand-applied color process. Stieglitz isn’t exactly painting, but he’s pushing at the edges of photography, trying to get it to do something more than just record a scene. The dreamy palette seems to be built from layers, creating an image which feels very tender and intimate. Look closely at the area around Kitty’s face, the way the colours blend together to create the contours of her cheek. There is a sensitivity here, as well as a kind of haziness that gives the image an atmosphere that sits somewhere between memory and wishful thinking. I’m reminded of early colourists like Pierre Bonnard, who made a career out of making paintings that felt like dreams. Like those painters, Stieglitz makes the ordinary feel luminous with his own particular brand of seeing. It's a reminder that art isn't about capturing reality, but about creating new ones.