On view
Dr. Leopold Stieglitz,
ca. 1907
Dr. Leopold Stieglitz is an autochrome, a color process in which black-and-white film was exposed through a fine “screen” of minute grains of translucent potato starch that had been dyed red, green, and blue. The potato starch granules created the illusion of a color photograph as the varying color specks optically mixed in the eye of the viewer, in much the same way that “pointillist” painters created forms and images with distinct dots of color with a limited palette. Pointillism and the autochrome would eventually morph into the RGB computer screen and effectively all other known color reproductive processes.
James Welling, artist and Professor of Visual Arts, Princeton University
Information
ca. 1907
North America, United States
The artist. Acquired by Flora Stieglitz Strauss, after ca. 1907 [1]; given to Francesca Calderone-Steichen, Edward Steichen’s granddaughter, 1990s [2]; given to the Princeton University Art Museum, 1995.
Notes:
[1]. Flora Stieglitz Strauss was the daughter of Leopold Stieglitz, the sitter and Alfred Stieglitz’s younger brother. Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen were friends and collaborators.
[2]. Francesca Calderone-Steichen’s mother, Mary Steichen Calderone, lived in Leopold Stieglitz’s household for a number of years after the outbreak of WWI.
