Rebecca Salsbury Strand

1922

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a close-up view of a person's face, capturing only the top portion of their head up to their mouth. The person's head is slightly tilted downwards, and their gaze is directly focused on the camera. The person has dark, straight hair that is neatly combed to the side. The facial features include prominent eyebrows, a furrowed brow, and subtly pursed lips. The lighting creates a contrast that emphasizes the texture of the skin and the intensity of the expression. The clothing is not clearly visible due to the close crop of the image. The background is out of focus, rendering it dark and indistinct, drawing attention to the person's face.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    palladium print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 23.7 × 19.2 cm (9 5/16 × 7 9/16 in.)
    sheet: 25.3 × 20.2 cm (9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in.)
    mount: 56 × 42.8 cm (22 1/16 × 16 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.543

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    92C

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    741

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

1958

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March 16–April 27, 1958

2016

  • Georgia O'Keeffe, Tate Modern, London, July 6–October 30, 2016; Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, December 7, 2016–March 26, 2017; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, April 22–July 30, 2017

Bibliography

1958

  • Bry, Doris. Exhibition of Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1958: no. 79.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 741.

Inscriptions

by Doris Bry, on mount, lower left, in graphite: Treated by Steichen—6/50; lower left verso: 92 C

Wikidata ID

Q64035134

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

Rebecca Strand spent most of the summer of 1922 at Lake George while her husband was working in Maryland. Stieglitz photographed Rebecca often during her visit:

“It’s nearly 9—& I have just come in from a real day’s work—photographing & developing since 9 a.m.—up & down—hill. Experimental portraits & snapshots. Beck as model mostly. Beck’s really first class as model—but somehow I am unable to make my end work as I want it to. Perhaps I’m trying nearly impossible things—but somehow when I do get a good negative I jab holes into it or do something equally destructive to it. Beck’s getting an idea of my capacity for work if nothing else” (Stieglitz to Herbert Seligmann, 28 September 1922 [YCAL]).

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.719

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:

possibly 1923, New York (nos. 16–21, as Rebecca Salsbury Strand, 1922)

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