Reflections: Night – New York,

1897

These two images are landmarks in the development of intentionally artistic photography. Stieglitz printed these as photogravures not only because the mechanical etching technique conveyed a breadth of tone and clarity of detail, but also because the complexity of the process called attention to his artistry. By claiming "Winter" and the "Reflections" of gas lamps as his photographs’ titles, Stieglitz made a bold claim that photography could serve artistic as well as documentary purposes. Although Winter on Fifth Avenue was originally horizontal, Stieglitz cropped it vertically to dramatize the carriage’s dynamic movement toward the viewer. Like the adjacent Hassam painting, Stieglitz’s explorations of the effects of light and weather elevated New York City street scenes into evocative formal studies.