From My Window at the Shelton, West

1931

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a cityscape with tall skyscrapers seen from a high vantage point. The skyline is filled with buildings, with one under construction, evident by its skeletal framework. Lighting creates shadows and highlights across the architecture, accentuating their details. The style emphasizes sharp lines and geometric patterns typical of urban buildings. The color palette is monochromatic, with blacks, whites, and grays, highlighting the structures.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 24.3 x 19.2 cm (9 9/16 x 7 9/16 in.)
    mount: 56 x 45.7 cm (22 1/16 x 18 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.1227

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    2B

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    1389

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

1994

  • Sayre, Henry M. A World of Art. New Jersey, 1994: fig. 138.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 2, cat. 1389.

Inscriptions

by later hand, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: 2—B

Wikidata ID

Q64036755

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

This photograph and Key Set numbers 1390, 1391, and 1392 depict the Newsweek building at 444 Madison Avenue, which was completed in mid-1931. Based on the stage of its construction and the fact that the windows of the new Waldorf-Astoria hotel (right foreground) are still covered with tape, these photographs were made in May or June 1931. The Waldorf-Astoria officially opened on 1 October 1931. The window-washing platform on the hotel and the shifting pattern of shadows indicate that three of these photographs were made on one day in rapid succession: this photograph was first, Key Set number 1390 second, and Key Set number 1391 third. Key Set number 1392 was made some time later.

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, 1949.782

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 49.55.45

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