Marius de Zayas 1915

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, "Marius de Zayas", at an unknown date. You can see the dark, almost sepia tones, with a range of greys from nearly black to a lighter, but still shaded, cream. It’s an effect that is very hard to get right, it requires a lot of skill in the darkroom and the process feels a bit like alchemy. Looking at the way Stieglitz manages the light, I love the way that the textures of the objects in the image are revealed. In the bottom right, the frame of the picture on the floor shines, drawing my attention to the image in it and creating a contrast with the wooden masks hung behind the figure of De Zayas, which are duller and absorb more light. That’s what I think is so wonderful about art. There are so many different ways of seeing, and this photo allows me to see what Stieglitz saw, as well as consider what De Zayas was looking at and interested in. It reminds me a bit of Man Ray, who was also working with photography at this time and experimenting with similar techniques.