Ellen Koeniger, Lake George

Art Historical Context

Alfred Stieglitz's *Ellen Koeniger, Lake* (1916) captures a quiet moment at the artist's beloved summer retreat in upstate New York. This intimate gelatin silver print, measuring just 9.3 x 10.5 cm, features Ellen Koeniger—likely a family friend or visitor—amid the serene landscape of Lake, a site Stieglitz frequently photographed to explore nature's subtle beauty and emotional resonance. As a pioneering figure in American photography, Stiegl championed the medium as fine art through his Photo-Secession movement and 291 in New York. By 1916, his work had evolved toward personal, evocative imagery, bridging pictorialism and modernism. The gelatin silver print, a versatile process yielding rich tonal range and sharp detail, allowed Stieglitz to produce prints with exceptional clarity, emphasizing photography's potential for straight, unmanipulated expression. Part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection at the National Gallery of Art, this small-scale photograph exemplifies his dedication to everyday subjects infused with profound significance. Visitors will appreciate how it reflects Stieglitz's lifelong quest to reveal the "equivalents" of inner experience through the lens, making the ordinary extraordinary.

About the Artist

Alfred Stieglitz · 1864–1946

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) was a pioneering American photographer, art dealer, publisher, and advocate for the Modernist movement who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to German Jewish immigrant parents, Stieglitz spent his formative years studying mechanical engineering in Berlin, where he discovered photography in ...