Equivalent 1930

Alfred Stieglitz captured this photograph, Equivalent, with his camera, a tool so different to a paintbrush but with a similar potential for expression. The photograph shows these expansive skies in tones of silver and gray, and I imagine Stieglitz watching the clouds shift, searching for the right moment. It makes you think about what he was aiming to capture. Was he looking for a feeling, like those artists trying to put something ineffable onto canvas? I think about Gerhard Richter and his cloud paintings, and how a photograph can become like a brushstroke. There’s something quite painterly here. The composition draws your eye upwards, past the skeletal trees at the bottom, into this vast, moody sky. There’s something universal here about nature, and what art tries to capture. Stieglitz and other artists show us that art is all about having a conversation about life and feeling. It’s pretty cool when you think about it.