Portrait - Evening

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.