Stieglitz Lake [Hardcover]

The name Stieglitz conjures up many images that helped define modern photography. With his publications of Camera Notes and Camera Work, numerous awards, and a tenacious drive to promote photography as a serious art, Alfred Stieglitz shaped our awareness of photography like no other. Although earlier photographs such as The Steerage, The Hand of Man, Spring Showers, The Terminal and others are indelibly linked to Stieglitz, it is his later work that is just as important to this oeuvre. With the publication of "Stieglitz at Lake George" we see a man content with his craft, to the point where some of the images have a snapshot quality, like vacation pictures taken by a master seer. The images show Stieglitz relaxed yet still in control, as he records the surroundings at Lake George. Both formal and informal, the portraits taken of O'Keeffe are some of Stieglitz's strongest depictions of the artist. Ellen Koeniger and Rebecca Strand elicit both playful and erotic poses for the camera, while others are photographed chatting, playing, or simply wandering around the grounds of Lake George. Many will see the photographs in direct contrast to Stieglitz's urban images. Although this is apparent in most of the photographs, the images of poplar trees stand out like the skyscrapers Stieglitz photographed later in his career. Even the elegant automobile found on the last page is clearly an urban image - a reminder that eventually one must leave Lake George and its quiet calm, for the city further down the road.