Georgia O'Keeffe 1930 - 1931

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print of Georgia O'Keeffe, a fellow artist and his future wife. Photography, when Stieglitz took it up, was not fully accepted as a fine art, though its chemical processes were developing rapidly in the context of burgeoning industrialization. Here, Stieglitz’s sensitivity to the tonal range of gelatin silver demonstrates his mastery of the medium. This was a time-intensive darkroom practice involving many hands and skilled labor. Consider also O’Keeffe’s hat. Its ridged surface shows the marks of machines, and its very presence signifies her participation in the rapidly changing world of fashion and consumption. A photograph is produced through collaborative labor; not only that of the photographer and the darkroom assistants, but the sitter and the clothes they wear. Stieglitz elevated photography, showing that its materials and processes could express artistic vision. But, it also tied art to wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption.