From the Back-Window—291—Building in Construction

1916

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a high-angle view from an elevated position overlooking an urban scene. The view includes various buildings of different heights and architectural styles, with a steel framework of a building under construction partially visible at the top edge. On the left, there are older brick buildings with architectural details, and in the center, there is a building with a prominent sign for "Le Marquis Apartment Hotel." A construction site with a skeletal steel structure is in the middle of the scene, blending old and new architecture. The image features a monochromatic palette, emphasizing textures and light contrast. Additionally, there is a rooftop with miscellaneous items and some trees in the foreground. The atmosphere is calm, portraying an urban environment in transition.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 24 × 18.9 cm (9 7/16 × 7 7/16 in.)
    sheet: 25.2 × 20.3 cm (9 15/16 × 8 in.)
    mat: 52.2 × 37.9 cm (20 9/16 × 14 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.404

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    13B

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    426

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

Exhibition History

1983

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 3–May 8, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 17–August 14, 1983; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18, 1983–January 3, 1984

Bibliography

1983

  • Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, 1983: no. 48, pl. 19.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 426.

Inscriptions

by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, upper left verso, in graphite: 13 B

Wikidata ID

Q64034916

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

“I have done quite some photography recently. It is intensely direct. Portraits, Buildings from my back window at 291, a whole series of them, a few landscapes and interiors. All interrelated. I know nothing outside of [David Octavius] Hill’s work which I think is so direct, and quite so intensely honest. It is all 8 × 10 work. All platinum prints. Not a trace of hand work on either negative or prints. No diffused focus. Just the straight goods. On some things the lens stopped down to 128. But everything simplified in spite of endless detail” (Stieglitz to R. Child Bayley, 1 November 1916 [YCAL]).

The building under construction is 136 Madison Avenue, at the northwest corner of Madison and 31st Street.

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:

1921, New York (no. 52, as Building in Construction, 1915, from the series “From the Back-Window—291”)

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