Getty Museum
Portrait - Evening
Creator
Edward SteichenAmerican Photographer · 1879–1973
All works by this person →> The camera is a witness of objects, places, and events... The technical process simply serves as a vehicle of transcription and not as the art. > --Edward Steichen Edward Steichen became interested in photography at age sixteen. Influenced by the atmosphere of moonlight that came to characterize his early Pictorialist photographs, he also painted. Upon turning twenty-one, he left for Europe by w
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1904
- Medium
- Toned platinum print
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Edward Steichen made this portrait in 1903 while honeymooning with his new wife Clara at Lake George, New York. The cloudy, dreamlike print echoes the romantic mood Steichen described in a letter to his close friend and fellow photographer, Alfred Stieglitz: "We had a moon night before last--the life of which I had never seen before--the whole landscape was bathed in a warm twilight glow . . . and we both rose and floated off into it." Steichen made this photograph shortly after he and Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession group, which aimed to promote photography as a fine art. To make this wistful image, Steichen employed the gum bichromate process, which required a great deal of handwork but allowed for the creation of a unique picture that conveys mood and atmosphere. Steichen and Stieglitz--both exponents of Pictorialist photography--advocated manipulation and individualistic treatment of the photographic print to emphasize feelings and senses. Many photographers at the time considered such one-of-a-kind prints to be the hallmark of artistic photography.
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