Rainbow

About this artwork

For more on the Alfred Stieglitz collection at the Art Institute, along with in-depth object information, please visit the website: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection.

Art Historical Context

Alfred Stieglitz’s “Rainbow,” made in 1920, captures a fleeting moment of natural wonder through the lens of one of photography’s most influential advocates. A central figure in establishing photography as fine art, Stieglitz championed both the Pictorialist emphasis on beauty and the emerging modernist approach of “straight” photography. By this date he had turned his attention to the sky and landscape around his Lake George home, using simple subjects to explore light, atmosphere, and emotion. The gelatin silver print medium was ideally suited to Stieglitz’s goals. Its fine grain and rich tonal range allowed him to render the delicate arc of a rainbow against darker clouds with remarkable subtlety, transforming an ordinary meteorological event into a quietly powerful composition. The small image size further encourages intimate viewing, drawing the eye into the play of light and shadow. Today the work resides in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Photography and Media collection, where it continues to illustrate the early twentieth-century belief that photography could convey both scientific observation and poetic feeling.

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 ...