Woods also asserted that Steichen, taking after Stieglitz, wanted to show the building as a "collision of the present with the past and future...neither inert nor fixed".

[1]: 187  Woods described the image from this view as "the Flatiron at twilight on rain-slicked streets" with a branch coming in from the upper-left to pay homage to the popular Japanese ukiyo-e woodprints Steichen had seen during his recent trip to Paris.

[4]: 190  Meanwhile, Malcolm Daniel related Steichen's coloristic choices to the color range of James McNeill Whistler's Nocturnes paintings to create rather "moody woodland scenes".

Based on Niven's research, the first of these prints — "brown pigment gum-bichromate on what appeared to be gelatine silver"[1]: 187  — dates to 1905 due to its back inscription of "STEICHEN MDCCCCY."

According to Woods, Steichen had originally intended the prints to be seen as "timeless Platonic entities" before Stieglitz saw their promise as "after-images about temporal displacement, sequentiality, supersession, and engagement.

The fourth platinum-gum print — originating from the Steichen family and with similar back markings for authenticity — was privately sold from the Paul G. Allen Collection by Christie's in 2022.