Art & culture
Why did Stieglitz photograph Georgia O’Keeffe hundreds of times?
He treated portraiture as a sequence of gestures and details rather than a definitive likeness in one frame.
Alfred Stieglitz made more than three hundred photographs of Georgia O’Keeffe between 1917 and 1937. The Metropolitan Museum describes these photographs as parts of a composite portrait: an attempt to evoke a person across many images rather than claim that one frame could represent a whole life.
Portrait as a sequence
Stieglitz photographed O’Keeffe in different poses and contexts, including close views of her hands and body. The Met records one palladium print as probably made around 1918. Across the body of work, repetition becomes a method: each image contributes a fragment, and the viewer assembles a larger impression from them.
Evidence: Museum, archive or institution record
The sitter’s role and the photographer’s authorship
O’Keeffe was not only a subject but also a prominent artist whose work and public identity circulated alongside Stieglitz’s photographs. The composite portrait therefore raises questions about authorship and representation: the photographer arranged images, while the sitter’s own art and choices shaped how she appeared publicly.
Evidence: Museum, archive or institution record
A booth sequence in miniature
A short booth strip also presents a person through multiple adjacent expressions, but Stieglitz’s project spans two decades and contains hundreds of photographs. The comparison shows how sequence can expand from a few seconds into a sustained portrait constructed over time.
Evidence: Museum, archive or institution record
Sources & further reading
Sources for the specific facts and product descriptions above. Our worked examples, interpretations and practical suggestions are original editorial guidance.
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe — The Metropolitan Museum of ArtMuseum, archive or institution record