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Recto of print -
Verso of original mount -
Photomicrograph showing print surface (scale bar is in millimeters) -
Photomicrograph showing print surface (scale bar is in micrometers) -
Exhibition view showing a print of the work in American Pictorial Photography (1902)
Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946)
The Net Mender, 1894
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949.690
In an 1899 article Stieglitz singled out The Net Mender as his favorite among his own pictures: “It expresses the life of a young Dutch woman: every stitch in the mending of the fishing net, the very rudiment of her existence, brings forth a torrent of poetic thoughts in those who watch her sit there on the vast and seemingly endless dunes, toiling with that seriousness and peacefulness which is so characteristic of these sturdy people.”[1] He noted that the exhibition prints of the image had been produced as enlarged carbon prints because “the subject needs size to fully express it.”[2] Indeed, a sketched diagram in pencil on the verso reveals notes on framing, indicating the care Stieglitz took presenting his works for exhibition.
Additional resources related to this object are to the right. Comprehensive material analysis can be found in the Object Research PDF.
[1] Alfred Stieglitz, “My Favorite Picture,” Photographic Life 1 (1899), reprinted in Richard Whelan, ed., Stieglitz on Photography: His Selected Essays and Notes (Aperture, 2000), p. 61.
[2] Ibid.