First there was Stieglitz (1864-1946), who, from the end of the 19th century onwards, took part in the pictorialist movement and remained fascinated by the beauty of his wife, the painter Georgia O'Keeffe. Between 1917 and 1937, he took over 330 photographs of her face, torso, hands and feet.
Then came Steichen (1879-1973), who began portraiting celebrities during a stay in Paris - Rodin, Matisse - but remained faithful to pictorialism, excelling in colour effects as shown by his large prints of the Flatiron Building in New York (1904).
Lastly, Paul Strand (1890-1976), who made his name in 1916 with The Blind Woman, wearing a sign around her neck indicating her disability - a sine qua non condition for begging in the United States at the time.in the early 1920s, he opened up to cinema and began travelling to Colorado, Canada and Mexico, from where he brought back photographs of landscapes and rocks.
Until 20 April 2011
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
Tickets at www.TicketWeb.com
