Request to view

This object can be requested via email from the Prints & Drawings Study Room

Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Songs of the Sky D9

Photograph
1923 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Stieglitz, Alfred (photographer)

A black and white photograph of a cloudscape.

Object details

Category
Photographs
Object type
Photograph
Titles
  • Songs of the Sky D<sub>9</sub> (assigned by artist)
  • Songs of the sky (popular title)
  • Songs of the Sky / Equivalent (assigned by artist)
  • Equivalents (series title)
Materials and techniques
gelatin silver print
Photographic Paper
Photography
Gelatin Silver Process
Brief description
Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 'Songs of the Sky D9', gelatin silver print, 1923
Physical description
A black and white photograph of a cloudscape.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 116mm
  • Image width: 92mm
  • Sheet height: 342mm
  • Sheet width: 278mm
Gallery label
(20/11/2012)
This photograph by Stieglitz shows only the sky. The series of images demonstrates that remarkable photographs need not rely on unusual subjects. The images were intended to evoke a psychological or emotional state in the viewer. On the reverse of some of the prints in this series, Stieglitz wrote ‘all ways are up’. The phrase seems both to answer a practical concern, and to hint at the answer to a metaphysical question.
Object history
One of seven (Ph.366 to 370-1980 and Ph.1384 to 1385-1980) from the series 'Equvalents'. Studies of clouds and sun taken between 1927 and 1936.
The following is an abstract from "Alfred Stieglitz's photography of clouds ('Equivalents') by Sarah Eden Greenough, a PhD dissertation from the University of New Mexico: "In 1922 Alfred Stieglitz made 10 photographs of clouds, thus beginning a series of photographs that occupied his attention for the next eight years. The Equivalents, as he came to call them, have been hailed as his most important contribution to photography. His aim was not to distill the essence of clouds but to transform them into an abstract language of form expressive of his feelings."
In "Alfred Stieglitz & Lake George. The American Place", History of Photography, Summer 1991, Graham Clarke suggests that the Equivalents represented for Stieglitz "A spiritual continuum untouched by 'the hand of man'".
Subject depicted
Clouds
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Sara Eden Greenough Alfred Stieglitz's photographs of clouds ('Equivalents') University of New Mexico, PhD, 1984
  • Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer Aperture Books, New York, 1973.
  • Jonathan Green History of Photography, col 15, no. 2, Summer 1991
  • "The Collection of Dorothy Norman", Aperture, vol 124 (pp.50-55), Summer 1991.
  • Evelyn Roth "From 291 to an American Place: a demonstration of the Stieglitz aesthetic", American Photographer, vol 18 (p.33), June 1987.
  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2002., vol. 1, 496 pp., iIl. ISBN 0810935333
Other number
913 - Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
PH.1384-1980

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJanuary 12, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O182342/songs-of-the-sky-dsub9sub-photograph-stieglitz-alfred/
Download as: JSON