Songs of the Sky 1924

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, titled "Songs of the Sky," sometime during his career. What grabs me is the sheer number of marks, or rather, clouds. He must have been standing there, watching and waiting, feeling the light change ever so slightly, shifting the shapes. I can imagine him thinking about painting, maybe comparing his photography to the work of someone like Constable, who dedicated his life to painting clouds. I like to think about how different forms of art – like photography and painting – can offer different ways of seeing the same thing. The hill grounds the piece and suggests our place as viewers. I think Stieglitz wants us to look up and contemplate the ephemerality of it all. The way the clouds are arranged feels musical, like notes on a page. Artists are always talking to each other across time and space, trading ideas, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.