Bly and Venus 1920

Editor: This gelatin silver print from 1920, “Bly and Venus,” by Alfred Stieglitz, presents an unusual pairing. It strikes me as quite a bold composition, juxtaposing the worn features of a working man with a classical sculpture. What can you tell me about the motivations behind this combination? Curator: Consider the materiality itself. A gelatin silver print, mass-producible, seemingly accessible, used to depict…what? Two forms, a laborer and an idealized sculpture, each produced by different forms of labor, separated by class. This speaks volumes. Editor: Are you suggesting the photographic process levels the playing field between the subject and the object? Curator: Not levels, necessarily. Rather, it highlights the tension. Stieglitz, aligned with the Photo-Secession, initially fought for photography's acceptance as fine art. Yet here he’s actively collapsing hierarchies between the ‘high’ art of sculpture and the ‘low’ subject of everyday life, mediated through a relatively democratic medium. What does this conflation achieve? Editor: Perhaps it questions the inherent value we assign to different kinds of labor - the making of art versus manual work. Curator: Precisely. It makes us consider the value of different kinds of work and how they are presented to be seen, through the means of production available. Also note, Venus represents commodity. Think of how, in 1920, that image circulates as reproduced object. Editor: That is thought-provoking; I initially focused on the aesthetics, not realizing the depth of its social commentary about consumption. Curator: Seeing the work this way offers a more material reading, revealing complex socio-economic underpinnings in an artist's process.