“Hand of Man” appeared in the first issue of Camera Work, a journal published and edited by Stieglitz that celebrated and examined the art and literature of the day. We will take a look at two pages of that issue.
First, read the third paragraph of “The Pictures in this Number.” This is a very brief discussion of “Hand of Man.” (Each paragraph in this issue begins with a word set in uppercase letters.) What do you think the author meant by “the pictorial possibilities of the commonplace”? What parts of “Hand of Man” do you think Stieglitz treated pictorially? Why do you think he treated these parts as he did? Can you imagine the photograph without any artistic manipulations? Would your reaction to your imagined photograph be any different than it was to Stieglitz’s version?
Edward Steichen was another pictorialist of the era who often worked with Stieglitz on his publications and exhibitions. Read “Ye Fakers,” Steichen’s spirited defense of the pictorialist style of art and his response to the notion that all pictorialist works were “faked.”
Reread the fourth paragraph (“SOME day there may be invented . . .”). What do you think of his proposed machine? What devices of today, if any, offer any of the functions he describes? Would a photograph taken by this machine provide the truest representation of the world around us? Could it ever be art?