Rebecca, New York

This photograph was taken two years before Paul Strand and Rebecca were married. Rebecca’s face embodies both intellectual strength and emotional openness, its slight sideways tilt offering the only hint of vulnerability. The sumptuousness of the print, built up from three superimposed layers of platinum, suffuses her skin with rich, alluring tones. This image, like all of Strand’s subsequent prints, was coated with a wax or varnish to intensify the dark areas. With his images of Rebecca, Strand followed the lead of his friend, American photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who had already begun a series of his wife Georgia O’Keeffe. The notion of adopting a serial approach to portraits of one’s spouse—revealing different aspects of their physical and spiritual self—was entirely new to photography. Perhaps because of their personal nature, these images were not widely exhibited in Strand’s lifetime.