The Deal in the title
of this picture refers to Deal, New Jersey, where Alfred Stieglitz took
the picture. No longer concerned with photographs that looked like paintings,
Stieglitz now emphasized modern art and photographs that looked like the
work of a camera rather than a paintbrush.
Creative photographs, according to Stieglitz, should be photographic.
Everyday subjects came into sharp focus in Stieglitzs lens, preventing
viewers from escaping into romantic images of life. No more soft, misty
effects, contrast was now useful. A full tonal range of blacks and whites
is evident in this print, unmistakably made by a camera.
Stieglitz still thought of the photograph as an avenue of expression,
an idea he had fully developed with the Pictorialists. Now, however, he
added concerns of modern art like line, shape and balance. This photography
was really about photography.
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