Balzac, the Open Sky -- 11 P. M.

Edward J. Steichen

1908, printed 1909 · Direct carbon print · Photographs

In late summer 1908 Rodin moved the plaster of his sculpture of the French writer Honoré de Balzac out of his studio and into the open air so that Steichen, who disliked its chalky aspect in the daylight, could photograph it by the moon. Waiting through several exposures as long as an hour each, Steichen made this exposure at 11 p.m., when the moonlight transformed the plaster into a monumental phantom rising above the brooding nocturnal landscape. Steichen recalled that when he presented his finished prints some weeks later, an elated Rodin exclaimed: "You will make the world understand my Balzac through your pictures. They are like Christ walking on the desert."

Artist

Edward J. Steichen

Date

1908, printed 1909

Medium

Direct carbon print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1933