The Flatiron Possibly 1903 - 1932

Curator: Here we have "The Flatiron," a gelatin-silver print possibly created between 1903 and 1932 by Alfred Stieglitz. Editor: The overall tone is muted and atmospheric. I immediately notice the texture of the snow against the rigid lines of the building and the organic shapes of the trees, emphasizing the materiality of the photographic print itself. Curator: It's interesting to see Stieglitz capturing this iconic skyscraper. Emerging in New York at the beginning of the 20th century, these new buildings signified modern progress, of course, but I feel like he's doing more here. His engagement with pictorialism sets the image apart. Editor: Yes, it moves beyond simple documentation. The way he’s framed the building through the trees transforms the urban landscape into something more…painterly. Did he manipulate the development process? The textures suggest a direct engagement with the materials, a labor intensive artistic decision. Curator: Precisely! This was a period when photography was fighting for its place as a fine art. The soft focus, the careful composition, and his printing techniques – all these elevated photography above mere mechanical reproduction and aligned it with painting. It's like he’s trying to tame the industrial revolution via soft-focus. Editor: Right, it challenges a strict divide between "high art" and crafted object. One wonders about the role of labor, access to darkroom technologies, the distribution of images as commodities in this era... Curator: The Flatiron Building, which became such a symbol, seems to float above the park in this version, divorced from the pressures of commerce, shaped by his artistic intervention rather than architectural innovation alone. Editor: So, we're seeing a deliberate layering, a translation through the photographic process that transforms industrial steel and glass into art. This shifts our attention not only to the skyscraper, but also to Stieglitz’s role as a transformative maker, an artisan if you will, using chemistry and light. Curator: It makes you reconsider not only photography's place, but also our very understanding of early 20th-century aesthetics. Editor: Absolutely. Seeing "The Flatiron" reminds us that photographs are never objective, they're carefully made material objects that contain implicit ideas about labor, social transformation, and artistry.