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拍品专文
As what is said to be the last photograph made by Steichen before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Heavy Roses, Voulangis marks a significant shift in his relationship to photography as a visual recorder. The underlying influences in Steichen's work before the War are the Photo-Secession and the Symbolist movements in painting and writing of the period. Employing the highly manipulative gum bichromate process, Steichen produced painterly, sensuous landscapes, nudes and portraits evoking the spirit of these movements.
Heavy Roses stands as a bridge between this world of sensory exploration and the modernist vision Steichen was experiencing in Paris and particularly in New York in his work with Stieglitz at '291'. Romantic and lush, yet also somewhat melancholic, this image captures the weighty, pungent quality of these time worn blooms. In a sense this bitter-sweet still-life reflects the political situation occuring in France just before Germany's invasion.
Upon his return to Voulangis in 1923, Steichen throws off his role as a painter, dramatically burning all of his paintings and turning his full attention to photography. However, this time he takes the camera as a tool for recording his subject without manipulation, possibly influenced by the aerial photography he did for the Army during the War. Steichen begins to experiment within the elemental confines of light and shadow, manipulating his subject through the lens and not in the printed product. Surprisingly, Heavy Roses, although painterly in effect, is a straight photograph made without darkroom alterations, suggesting that by 1914 Steichen was already moving away from his earlier Pictorialist techniques toward a more modern interpretation of his subject.
There is another print of this image in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
According to the Witkin Archives at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona, there were two prints of Heavy Roses sold by the Witkin Gallery during their exhibition of Steichen's work in 1970. In addition, the image of Heavy Roses was used for the exhibition announcement.
Heavy Roses stands as a bridge between this world of sensory exploration and the modernist vision Steichen was experiencing in Paris and particularly in New York in his work with Stieglitz at '291'. Romantic and lush, yet also somewhat melancholic, this image captures the weighty, pungent quality of these time worn blooms. In a sense this bitter-sweet still-life reflects the political situation occuring in France just before Germany's invasion.
Upon his return to Voulangis in 1923, Steichen throws off his role as a painter, dramatically burning all of his paintings and turning his full attention to photography. However, this time he takes the camera as a tool for recording his subject without manipulation, possibly influenced by the aerial photography he did for the Army during the War. Steichen begins to experiment within the elemental confines of light and shadow, manipulating his subject through the lens and not in the printed product. Surprisingly, Heavy Roses, although painterly in effect, is a straight photograph made without darkroom alterations, suggesting that by 1914 Steichen was already moving away from his earlier Pictorialist techniques toward a more modern interpretation of his subject.
There is another print of this image in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
According to the Witkin Archives at the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona, there were two prints of Heavy Roses sold by the Witkin Gallery during their exhibition of Steichen's work in 1970. In addition, the image of Heavy Roses was used for the exhibition announcement.