Here and Now

Steichen’s original is a platinum and ferroprussiate print.
Platinum, palladium, gum bichromate and other alternatives to silver emulsion were employed to add tone or color and to give the photograph a more painterly appearance. Why? Well, in part, because Pictorialist photographers at the turn of the 20th century felt that, in order for their images to be art, they had to look like art; ie, the art of the time: Impressionism and – in the Academy – Romanticism.

To view the uncropped version in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, click here.