From My Window at An American Place, Southwest, March 1932

Key Set Entry

Related Key Set Photographs

Remarks

This photograph and Key Set numbers 1453–1462 depict the construction of the RKO Building at Rockefeller Center. The project is so thoroughly documented that it is possible to date many of these images to the week they were made. This photograph and Key Set number 1453 were taken the week of 11 March; Key Set number 1454 the week of 14 March; Key Set number 1455 the week of 21 March; Key Set number 1456 the week of 4 April; Key Set numbers 1457 and 1458 the week of 11 April; and Key Set numbers 1459–1462 some time between late April and early June (see Photographic Views of New York, 1870s–1970s, nos. 383.D3, 552.D2–D3, 558.E7, 976.D7, and a print by Samuel H. Gottscho, in the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, no. LC-G612-17823). The titles are based on those of similar works included in Stieglitz’s 1932 exhibition at An American Place. Shortly after the exhibition closed, Stieglitz began making this group of photographs.

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.790

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 49.55.48

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

“Speaking of Pictures . . . These are by one of Photography’s Pioneers,” Life 14:14 (5 April 1943): 7 (ill., untitled, 1931)

Inscription

by Doris Bry, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: 9-D

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Exhibition History

1997

August Sander Archiv/SK Stiftung Kulture, Cologne, Germany, May 22–August 10, 1997

2001

Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2001

2002

Alfred Stieglitz: Known and Unknown, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, June 2–September 2, 2002; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 6, 2002–January 5, 2003

2016

Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2016–2017

Bibliography

1996

Smith, Joel. "How Stieglitz Came to Photograph Cityscapes." History of Photography 20, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 326.

2000

Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001: no. 188.

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 2, cat. 1452.

Related Content