Alfred Stieglitz 1927 1.gif B/W Photo In November 1925 Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe moved into the newly constructed Shelton Hotel in New York City. Neither one had lived in a skyscraper before and both were deeply stimulated by the expansive views from their windows. By showing few other buildings in the immediate foregrounds of these photographs of the city, Stieglitz communicated a sense of detachment, as if he were a bird soaring high above a somewhat foreign terrain. Alfred Stieglitz 1933 2.gif B/W Photo In the fall and winter of 1930 and 1931 Stieglitz made many photographs of New York City using his 8 x 10 inch view camera. Although large and cumbersome, this camera enabled him to create photographs with a crispness and clarity that perfectly suited the sharp, precise lines of New York's skyscrapers. Alfred Stieglitz 1931 3.gif B/W Photo In the fall and winter of 1930 and 1931 Stieglitz made many photographs of New York City using his 8 x 10 inch view camera. Although large and cumbersome, this camera enabled him to create photographs with a crispness and clarity that perfectly suited the sharp, precise lines of New York's skyscrapers. Alfred Stieglitz 1932 4.gif B/W Photo In the spring of 1932 Stieglitz became fascinated with the views he saw from his gallery, An American Place, of the construction of the RKO Building at Rockefeller Center. Working at various times of the day and evening and with different lenses, he charted its growth from early March to late June. Once the building was completed, however, and the scene no longer presented an ever-shifting visual spectacle, he lost interest and stopped recording it. Alfred Stieglitz 1935 5.gif B/W Photo These three photographs, all of Rockefeller Center, are among the last studies Stieglitz made of New York City. Although he was still fascinated by the formal patterns created by ever-shifting patterns of light, he depicted the city itself as cold and devoid of human life. Rockefeller Center was "not the symbol of the future," he asserted at this time, "but the ending of a period." Annibale Carracci c. 1582-1583 7.gif red chalk on beige paper Among the earliest paintings by Annibale Carracci that have come down to us is the large Butcher Shop in the Christ Church Museum, Oxford, datable on grounds of style to about 1582-1583.1 The original destination and precise significance of this painting remain unknown. The present study is for the butcher at left, who is busy weighing a piece of meat. Compared to the figure in the final picture, this man has rather boyish features, which can be explained by the tradition of studying the poses of particular figures through casual models, usually chosen from among the workshop apprentices. The clothing -- dark woolen cap, white shirt open to the chest, pure white knee-length apron covering the trousers, dark hose -- is exactly the same in the painting and the drawing, but the shirtsleeves of the drawn figure are not rolled up above the elbows. In a detail sketch at right on the same sheet, Annibale studied the arm as it would appear in the final painting (and in this case it is already the arm of an adult). The knife and sharpening steel hanging from the belt of the painted figure are missing, although great care has already been taken in the study of the scales, more properly a stadera, on which the meat is hung in such a way that the counterweight (romano), running the length of the horizontal pole, registers the weight. More summary, by contrast, is the rendering of the meat, which in the final painting will become a spot of intense realism. Annibale Carracci c. 1593-1594 8.gif charcoal heightened with white on gray-blue paper, cut and made up on the left Commissioned in 1587-1588 by the Confraternita di San Rocco for the church of San Prospero in Reggio Emilia, the large painting of The Alms of Saint Roch (fig. 1) was not completed until 1595, at the moment of Annibale's final departure for Rome. Ludovico and Agostino may even have participated, if the letter from Annibale of 8 July 1595, which indicates that the work had not been completed, is to be believed.1 There is no doubt, however, that Annibale was the true author of this composition, which brings the Bolognese period to a close in authoritative fashion. Annibale Carracci c. 1597-1598 9.gif black chalk heightened with white on gray paper, laid down The study is for the faun in the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne who blows a horn while he strides alongside Silenus to support him on his donkey. The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne is thought to be the first major part of the Farnese ceiling to be frescoed. Since it was Annibale's practice to refine the details as he went along rather than planning the whole decoration at once, the drawings for the Triumph of Bacchus can be counted among the earliest for the project. Much admired, this drawing was exhibited for a long time in the Louvre and the original blue of the paper has faded to gray. It is easy to understand why it was held in such high esteem, for the life and energy of the figure is impressive. The pose, with its jaunty counterpoise, the twist of the body, and the bounce in the step, is one of the most memorable in the Gallery. Annibale played with the contours, having begun the study with both legs farther forward, and the multiple outlines enhance the sense of action in the drawing. Annibale Carracci c. 1598 10.gif black chalk heightened with white on more than fifty joined sheets of brown paper (formerly gray-blue), partially pricked for transfer, cut at lower left and laid down This immense and immensely imposing drawing is the full-scale cartoon for the right half of The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, the central ceiling decoration of the Farnese Gallery. As such, it belongs to the last stage of Annibale's preparations for the fresco, and was preceded by a large number of compositional and figure drawings, some of which are included in this exhibition (cats. 42-46). In those earlier studies Annibale had worked out first the overall composition and then the poses of the individual revelers before presumably reassembling them into a final model drawing (now lost), which would have been presented to the patron for his approval. Only at that point would Annibale have proceeded to draw the full-scale cartoon, which would originally have measured about 3.5 by 6.7 meters, assuming that it was made as a single unit. The left half of the cartoon has been lost at least since the end of the seventeenth century. Annibale Carracci 1597-1598 11.gif black chalk heightened with white chalk on gray-blue paper, laid down Filling the page is the profile of a satyr, painstakingly rendered in black chalk. Strong, carefully plotted passages of white chalk magnify the impression of the relief and solid mass of the head. It has long been recognized that Annibale drew this satyr after an antique sculpture. His model was the head of Pan in the marble group of Pan and Olympos, then in the Farnese collection (fig. 1).1 Annibale was faithful to the statue, capturing the goatlike muzzle in the protrusion of the nose and upper lip; the broad, flattened nose and slanting nostrils; sloping brow; and the parted lips, thick and sensual. Stout horns spring from the forehead. The virile curls of the satyr's hair and beard, particularly the coarse tufts of mustache, sprout in masses to evoke the carved marble and are remarkably faithful to the prototype. Annibale Carracci 1598-1599 12.gif black chalk heightened with white on gray-blue paper, laid down One of the most celebrated examples of Annibale's draftsmanship is this large study for the ignudo at the right of the Apollo and Marsyas medallion (fig. 1). It glows with a light that glides over the surface so that the patches of hatching seem to float in response to changing light conditions. Annibale worked out the problem of modeling and shading this area with particular care, and strengthened the silhouette of the figure with heavier chalk lines to enhance the sense of projection from the background. Annibale Carracci c. 1599 13.gif pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk, with horizontal and vertical construction lines in black chalk on beige paper Michelangelo may have looked down on landscape painting as suitable only for "young women, monks and nuns, or such noblemen as lack an ear for true harmony," but many of his colleagues were less dismissive. Landscape drawing was assiduously practiced by several Renaissance artists, from Fra Bartolommeo to Girolamo Muziano and Federico Zuccaro; if few specialized in the genre, many clearly took pleasure in drawing landscapes as a form of training or relaxation. For the Carracci, too, landscape drawing was part of their routine.1 In his funeral oration for Agostino (1603), Luca Faberio recalled the fondness of the Carracci academy members for excursions into the Bolognese countryside, where they drew "hills, fields, lakes, rivers and everything else that was beautiful, and notable and striking."2 Their enjoyment is reflected by the vast number of landscape drawings from the Carracci circle, most of them carrying old attributions to Annibale or Agostino. Annibale Carracci c. 1603-1604 14.gif pen and brown ink on tan paper, laid down This swiftly rendered little landscape may have been Annibale's parody of some florid description of a sunrise, visualizing its verbal imagery to humorous effect, much as his well-known drawing at Windsor Castle ridicules the composition of Tintoretto's Annunciation in the Scuola di San Rocco by showing how bizarre the scene becomes when viewed from a slightly different angle.1 Nor are these the only examples of Annibale using drawings to deflate the pretensions of others. The most famous instance, perhaps, is when he reminded his pompous older brother Agostino of their humble origins with a drawing of their parents with needle, thread, and scissors: "Remember, Agostino, that you're a tailor's son."