Professor Werner

1895, printed 1895/1896

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a man standing in a relaxed position. He has a full beard and mustache, and his hair is combed back, revealing a receding hairline. He wears a three-piece suit with a waistcoat, coat, and tie. In his left hand, he holds a newspaper, while his right hand is raised, holding a cigar. The background is blurred and consists of dark tones.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 18.6 × 13.1 cm (7 5/16 × 5 3/16 in.)
    page size: 34.8 × 27.3 cm (13 11/16 × 10 3/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.239

  • Volume Title

    Sun Prints, 4

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    78B

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    247

Associated Artworks

See all 34 artworks
This is a photograph of two oxen yoked together in a field. The image depicts two oxen standing side by side in a field with a dirt-covered ground. The oxen are fitted with harnesses and a yoke. The background shows a distant horizon. The photo is in a grainy sepia tone.

An Idyll

Alfred Stieglitz

1887

The image shows a body of water with mountains in the distance. The point of view is elevated, capturing the shoreline and the water. A person leans towards a cow, holding its halter by the rocky shore. The horizon is high in the image, with the mountains forming a dark outline against the sky. The mountains appear as a soft silhouette due to the diffuse lighting. The image has a grainy and vintage texture. The color palette is monochromatic, with shades of gray and sepia. A small boat with figures is on the water, and a larger vessel is docked to the right.

The Unwilling Bath

Alfred Stieglitz

1887

This is an image of a blacksmith workshop. It shows a scene in front of a rustic building with textured stonework and arched doorways. There is a blacksmith’s anvil in the center, along with tools and a vice on a wooden bench. The entrance has an intricately carved arch. To the right, there’s a cart wheel, and sunlight casts shadows across the cobblestone. The setting conveys a sense of historical craftsmanship and rural life, with deep contrast and details in the photograph bringing out the texture of the building and ground.

Before the Smithy's

Alfred Stieglitz

1890

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 247.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, on interleaving tissue, upper right, in graphite: "Prof. Werner." [underlined] / 1895.

Wikidata ID

Q64037717

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

Adolph Werner, Hedwig Stieglitz’s cousin, was born in Frankfurt and immigrated to America in 1850; he became a professor of German Language and Literature at the City College of New York. Werner encouraged Stieglitz to attend City College in 1879 and later to study in Germany.

Noting that many amateurs blamed their unsuccessful portraits on a lack of a “suitable studio,” Stieglitz wrote an article in 1898 using this photograph and Key Set number 248 to demonstrate how “an underexposed cluster of trees, thickly covered with green leaves” could serve as a natural backdrop (“A Natural Background for Out-of-Door Portraiture,” The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1898 [New York, 1897], 210–211).

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

Collection of Richard and Ronay Menschel [gelatin silver]

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 83.85.1

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 2016.101.422

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1898, New York, American Institute (no. 53, as Professor W., bronze medal)
1899, New York (no. 61, as Portrait of Prof. W., 1896, platinum direct)

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

Alfred Stieglitz, “A Natural Background for Out-of-Door Portraiture,” The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1898 (New York, 1897): opp. 211 (ill., Open-Air Portrait)

M. [F. Matthies-Masuren], “Alfred Stieglitz—New York,” Photographisches Centralblatt 4 (December 1898): 429 (ill., untitled)

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