Katharine Dudley 1922

Alfred Stieglitz made this gelatin silver print, Katharine Dudley, sometime in the early twentieth century. It’s a study of light and dark, where the softness of the subject is made even softer by the tonal range. Look at the way the light gently caresses the shoes, and the leg. The velvety blacks of the shoes and the bed are so rich, but they don’t overpower the luminosity of the skin. Everything feels intimate and close-up. The eye travels across the shiny surface of the shoe, lingers on the bow, and then slides down the gentle curve of the leg. This photograph makes me think about Edward Steichen. Both artists were part of the Photo-Secession movement, and shared a similar interest in soft-focus and atmospheric effects. But while Stieglitz's work often hints at the sensual, he always seems to hold something back, leaving us to imagine what lies beyond the frame. And that's kind of sexy, don't you think?