Rebecca Salsbury Strand

1922

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a close-up of a person's face in profile, capturing the side of their head and part of their neck. The person's head is tilted slightly downward, with their gaze directed towards the lower left corner of the image. They have faint eyebrows, a straight nose, and full lips visible in the soft lighting. Their hair appears dark and is parted away from the face, smoothly covering the ear, which is prominently visible. The image is in sepia tones, giving it a vintage appearance. The background is out of focus, providing no distinct details. There are no visible accessories or additional objects in this closely framed portrait.

Media Options

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    palladium print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image (visible): 24.2 × 19.3 cm (9 1/2 × 7 5/8 in.)
    mount: 56.8 × 45.9 cm (22 3/8 × 18 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.544

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    33D

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    743

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

Curious for more Alfred Stieglitz scholarship?

Discover over 1,000 artworks that the artist’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe termed his “Key Set” of prize photographs. Museum scholars have illuminated each work, his career, practices, and lifetime achievements.

Learn about the Key Set

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2012

  • The Serial Portrait: Photography and Identity in the Last One Hundred Years: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 30–December 31, 2012

  • The Serial Portrait: Photography and Identity in the Last One Hundred Years: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 30–December 31, 2012

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 743.

Inscriptions

by Doris Bry, on mount, lower left, in graphite: Treated by Steichen—6/50
by later hand, center right verso, in graphite: K 33 D; on mount, lower left verso: 33 D

Wikidata ID

Q64035135

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

“I have some beautiful prints of you—& waxed—spotted—ready to be mounted. But they really need no mounting—no presentation. They just are. How you’ll like them as ‘Portraits’ I don’t know. As prints, as photographs, everyone will have to like them. They exist. So your work & kind willingness have not all been in vain. And I’m glad. And Paul will be glad too when he sees the results. They are entirely different from his things of you. Perhaps they will clarify some things” (Stieglitz to Rebecca Strand, 1 November 1922 [YCAL]).

Other Collections

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

Collection of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, New York

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)

You may be interested in

Loading Results