A show of timeless moments

From Prospero:

'STIEGLITZ, Steichen and Strand,' a show of 115 of photographs by these American masters, is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All the works are from the museum’s rich holdings. That’s all very well, but some might wonder: why bother? It’s an understandable reaction. Not only is it cold out; many of of the images are familiar or, like Stieglitz’s “Steerage,” world famous. Those who do brave the weather to visit the grand museum on Fifth Avenue will be rewarded by such rare delights as its exhibitions focused on Kublai Khan, the 13th century Emperor of China and Jan Gossart, an influential 16th-century Nederlandish painter. With so much to see, it may seem positively sensible to skip the three S's. Don't. It is full of wonders and surprises.

What is remarkable is how fresh so many of these photographs look, though they are more than a century old. Alfred Stieglitz's pitiless studies of Georgia O'Keefe's hands (pictured); Edward Steichen's love-affair with the Flatiron building and Paul Strand's meditations on the abstract qualities of bowls (below) all pack a wallop. The effect is forceful, whether seeing these pictures for the first time or the fiftieth.

It is good to be reminded of how much better photographs look in person. The most breathtaking example is Steichen's often reproduced 1904 image 'The Flatiron'. He chemically manipulated his three prints of the building at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street (the only prints in existence made for exhibition) to give them the look of paintings. Whistler was a strong influence. In the catalogue (well worth having) they look poetic; face-to-face the three have a tender beauty.

Sometimes the size of a photograph is a shock. Here again the Flatiron Building is a case in point. Because it is so often reproduced smaller, its full 18-plus by 15 inches seems huge, which adds to the photograph's impact. At the other extreme is Stieglitz's delicate 1922 vision, "Gables and Apples". Droplets of water cling to the surface of apples in a photograph that measures little more than 4-by-3 inches. Size and subject matter combine to make us aware that we are witnessing a fleeting moment caught on film.  

Malcolm Daniel, who curated the show, has hung the works with intelligence and flair. Each photographer is introduced chronologically with a room of his own. The show begins with Stieglitz (1864-1946), moves on to Steichen (1879-1973) and ends with Strand (1890-1976). The images within these one-man shows are enhanced by being seen together. The photographs snake through three large rooms of the museum, like a daisy chain of masterpieces. The visitor witnesses the evolution of the medium, whereby the imitation of painting slowly gave way to a new and distinctly photographic aesthetic.

From the catalogue we learn that during one of Steichen's visits to France in 1908 he went to see Rodin. The sculptor was longing to have his full-length plaster statue of a brooding, majestic Balzac cast in bronze. To help publicise it, he suggested moving it onto the terrace of his studio, where Steichen could shoot it by moonlight. The resulting images on view, taken at 11 pm, midnight and 4am (above), are haunting.

The Big Three were gifted and ambitious. Stieglitz set out to have photography recognised as art. He hammered away at museums until they accepted his gifts of contemporary photographs (not only by him). These days most everybody agrees that photography is art. It is bracing to keep in mind, however, that Henri Cartier-Bresson, another master of the medium, did not agree. But does it matter? Not nearly as much as the photographs. 

'Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand' is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York until April 10th 2011"

Moral of the story: never discount the familiar. The things we see the most we understand the least. Wilde knew: "the mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible." SO wish I could see this exhibition. The Met! Sigh.