73. Equivalents

Alfred Stieglitz's equivalents are considered the first totally abstract images in they have absolutely no time or location reference to reality. In these photographs of clouds that excluded the horizon or any other reference points he removed any clues to when or where they were made. If Stieglitz was alive in the 1860's he likely could have made very similar photographs of the clouds that he did in the 1920's. To capture an image of reality, but have it so far removed from that reality is a truly modern idea.

Beyond the originality of the series is his sheer dedication to it. Over his lifetime he took hundreds of these "equivalents".  Many historians argue why. Was it his quest for perfect form? Was he looking for something he had yet to define visually? Was it simply practice? Was it exploration of a technical feat?

I have been thinking a bunch about Stieglitz' equivalents lately. Beyond the creation of a totally abstract image I always thought they were too simple, too easy, nothing special. After he made ten of these images did he really have to create another several hundred? I have a tendency to breeze by them in history of photography class because I am not sure I embrace the art speak that has always been applied to why he continued to make these images over a whole decade. And he practiced the same dedication to photographing and rephotographing his wife Georgia O'keeffe's hands. Today, walking out to my car... obsessively thinking about my blog it hit me. Maybe Alfred Stieglitz was a little obsessive too (no evidence here, just an anecdotal guess). Maybe he continued to make equivalents because he just had to.