[Music: A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, No. 1]

[Music: A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, No. 1]

Alfred Stieglitz, 1922

Download4000 × 3139 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Size: Image: 18.7 × 24 cm (7 3/8 × 9 7/16 in.)
Culture: American
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

When Alfred Stieglitz began to photograph clouds, he wrote to a friend: "I had told Miss [Georgia] O'Keeffe I wanted a series of photographs which when seen by [composer] Ernest Bloch he would exclaim: Music! music! Man, why that is music!" In 1922, amidst significant personal changes, Stieglitz created his first series of cloud studies, alternately titled Music: A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs; Clouds in Ten Movements; and Music: A Series of Ten Pictures. These images were a precursor to Stieglitz's "Equivalents" series, in which he sought to depict emotional states through visual representations.

This foreboding landscape with its dominating, brooding black sky evokes the personal, familial tumult then occurring in Stieglitz's life.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.

More by Alfred Stieglitz

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, about 1920–1922

Georgia O'Keeffe--Hands

Georgia O'Keeffe--Hands

Alfred Stieglitz, negative 1919; print late 1920s or 1930s

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, 1933

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, 1918

Hands of Georgia O'Keeffe at 291

Hands of Georgia O'Keeffe at 291

Alfred Stieglitz, June 1917

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, 1932

[From My Window at the Shelton, North]

[From My Window at the Shelton, North]

Alfred Stieglitz, 1931

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, 1935

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, negative 1919; print 1920s

Georgia O'Keeffe--Hands and Horse Skull

Georgia O'Keeffe--Hands and Horse Skull

Alfred Stieglitz, 1931

Georgia O'Keeffe--After Return from New Mexico Equivalent O1

Georgia O'Keeffe--After Return from New Mexico Equivalent O1

Alfred Stieglitz, 1929

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait

Alfred Stieglitz, 1918

Visually similar

Songs of the Sky

Songs of the Sky

Alfred Stieglitz, 1924

Songs of the Sky, No. 2 / Equivalent, Portrait of Georgia, No. 3

Songs of the Sky, No. 2 / Equivalent, Portrait of Georgia, No. 3

Alfred Stieglitz, 1923

Moonbeam on the Waters

Moonbeam on the Waters

Archibald Stuart-Wortley, about 1863

Moonbeam on the Waters

Moonbeam on the Waters

Archibald Stuart-Wortley, about 1863

Equivalent

Alfred Stieglitz, 1930

White Mountains, New Hampshire

White Mountains, New Hampshire

Albert Bierstadt, 1857

Mediterranean with Mount Agde

Mediterranean with Mount Agde

Gustave Le Gray, 1857

[Landscape with Clouds]

[Landscape with Clouds]

Roger Fenton, probably 1856

Mediterranean Sea - Sète

Mediterranean Sea - Sète

Gustave Le Gray, 1857

Equivalent

Alfred Stieglitz, 1929

All the air was white

All the air was white

Archibald Stuart-Wortley, about 1863

Sunset at Sea

Archibald Stuart-Wortley, 1860s