George and Agnes Engelhard
1907
Medium
Autochrome
Dimensions
image: 16.8 × 11.5 cm (6 5/8 × 4 1/2 in.) overall: 17.8 × 12.7 cm (7 × 5 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert B. Menschel Fund
Accession Number
2001.33.1
Art Historical Context
In 1907, pioneering photographer Alfred Stieglitz captured *George and Agnes Engelhard using the groundbreaking Autochrome process, one of the earliest practical methods for color photography. Invented by the Lumière brothers in France and commercially released that same year, Autochrome involved coating glass plates with potato starch grains dyed in red, green, and blue filters, creating luminous, painterly color images through additive color synthesis. This intimate portrait, measuring just 16.8 × 11.5 cm, depicts the couple—likely close acquaintances of Stieglitz—bathed in soft, natural lig...
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 ...