c. 1910
(Austrian, 1866–1944)
Gum platinum print
Image: 31.5 x 41.5 cm (12 3/8 x 16 5/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1991.159
Heinrich Kuehn was one of the most sophisticated photographers involved in the international movement, known as Pictorialism. The works of pictorialist photographers paralleled landscape, genre, and portrait subjects in painting and printmaking of the period. Characteristic of Kuehn's best work, the subtle use of light and dark in this still life is apparent in the various surfaces of the arranged objects—the smoothly polished wood tabletop, the dull metal serving tray, the darkly colored delicate teacup and saucer, the clear, nearly invisible glass of water, and the white ceramic teapot and water picther. Eliminating distracting details, Kuehn concentrated on broad areas of rich tone, transforming this group of common objects into a visually compelling work of art, rich with nuance and mystery.
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