A Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris, 1894

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Remarks

When Stieglitz arrived in Paris he wrote: “The great city is full of fascination and beauty. I am particularly pleased in studying the different phases of life here, have done some photographing and secured several good things. Photographs I have seen here are rather mediocre, nothing worth speaking of. It is rather odd that no better work is done here, as the city simply is ‘chuck’ full of motives of all descriptions” (“Editorial Comment,” The American Amateur Photographer 6 [June 1894]: 274).

This photograph depicts the intersection of Boulevard des Italiens and rue Scribe.

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, 1949.887

George Eastman Museum, Rochester, 74:0052:0082 (inscribed: Photograph [carbon print] by Alfred Stieglitz 1894 / Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris / First photograph of the kind ever made ?)

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1993.255

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 306.1962 (inscribed: “Wet Day on the Boulevard” / Original Photograph / by / Alfred Stieglitz / 1891 This is the third print from the negative and is the first photograph on record having been taken in the rain!)

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1894, Brooklyn (no. 520, as A Wet Day in Paris, carbon enlargement)
1894, London, Salon (no. 208, as A Wet Day in Paris)
1895, Paris (no. 575, as Un jour de pluie à Paris, platinum)
1896, Syracuse (no. 248, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard)
1896, Berlin (as Ein Nasser Tag)     
1896, Hamburg (no. 474, as Ein nasser Tag auf dem Boulevard—Paris)
1897, London, R.P.S. (no. 440, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard, lantern slide)
1897, Toronto (bronze medal)
1898, New York, Camera Club (no. 16, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris)
1898, New York, American Institute (no. 168, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard)
1898, Munich (no. 275, as Ein nasser Tag)
1899, Berlin (no. 564, as Ein Nasser Tag)
1899, New York (no. 43, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard, 1894, carbon enlargement)
1910, Buffalo (no. 423, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard, 1894, carbon)
1913, New York (no. 8, as A Wet Day on the Boulevard, 1894)
1944, Philadelphia (no. 10, as Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris, 1894)

Lifetime Publications

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

The Photographic Times 27 (December 1895): frontispiece (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard, photogravure)

“Alfred Stieglitz and His Latest Work,” The Photographic Times 28:4 (April 1896): 167 (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard)

The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1896 (New York, 1895): frontispiece (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard)

Wiener Photographische Blätter 3:8 (August 1896): between 156 and 157 (ill., Nasser Tag)

W. I. Lincoln Adams, ed., Sunlight and Shadow (New York, 1897): 38 (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard)

The Art Interchange 34 (December 1897): 136 (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard)

Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies (New York, 1897): unnumbered (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard—Paris)

M. [F. Matthies-Masuren], “Alfred Stieglitz—New York,” Photographisches Centralblatt 4 (December 1898): 431 (ill., Ein Nasser Tag)

“Photographs from the Camera Club Exhibition,” New -York Tribune (14 May 1899): illustrated supplement, 10 (ill., A Wet Day on the Boulevard)

Photographische Correspondenz 36 (July 1899): 389 (ill., Ein Nasser Tag)

Sadakichi Hartmann, “Alfred Stieglitz,” Photographische Rundschau 14:12 (1900): 34 (ill., Wet Day on the Boulevard)

Die Kunst in der Photographie 4 (1900): unpaginated (ill., Ein Regentag)

Die Photographische Kunst im Jahre 1902: Ein Jahrbuch für Künstlerische Photographie: 35 (ill., untitled)

Sidney Allan [Sadakichi Hartmann], “What Photographers May Learn from the Old and New Masters,” The Photographic Times 42 (September 1910): frontispiece, opp. 333 (ill., Wet Day on the Boulevard)

J. Nilsen Laurvik, “Alfred Stieglitz, Pictorial Photographer,” The International Studio 44:174 (August 1911): xxi (ill., Wet Day on the Boulevard)

Waldo Frank et al., America & Alfred Stieglitz (New York, 1934): pl. 26c (ill., Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris, 1894)

Inscription

by Alfred Stieglitz, on verso of original frame backing: Wet Day on the Boulevard, Paris — 1894 / Made in 1894. Original negative 4 x 5. This print is the original which opened up the way for so-called ‘“Rainy Day” pictures. / [An American Place stamp]; lower right verso, in graphite: Stieglitz #3

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Exhibition History

1983

Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 3–May 8, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 17–August 14, 1983; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18, 1983–January 3, 1984

1992

Stieglitz in the Darkroom, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, October 4, 1992–February 14, 1993

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

Bibliography

1983

Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, 1983: no. 8.

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 114.

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