Alfred Stieglitz

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Alfred Stieglitz
Stieglitz.jpg
Alfred Stieglitz, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1935.
BornJanuary 1,1864
Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
DiedJuly 13,1946

Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13,1946) was an American born photographer. Over his fifty-year career, Stieglitz made a mission of transforming photography into an acceptable art form like painting, sculpture and graphic arts. He used creativity and technical advances as well as principles of composition and design in his photographs in ways that stretched the viewers' perceptions of what they see. Through Stieglitz' work, photography came to have the same power to open and expand minds as other art forms.

Stieglitz was instrumental in introducing modern art to United States. Through ownership of a series of galleries, Stieglitz exposed people to avant garde artworks, including the work of painter, Georgia O'Keeffe. He is also known for his marriage and creative partnership to O'Keeffe, most famous for her large-scale paintings of flowers.

Early Life

Stieglitz was born the eldest of six children in Hoboken, New Jersey. His birth was eagerly anticipated by his German-Jewish immigrant parents, Edward Stieglitz of farming stock and his wife Hedwig, from a family of scholars. Edward was a partner in a successful dry goods company. He took the ferry to Manhattan every day. When Alfred was sixteen, his father had the means to purchase a brownstone on Manhattan's Upper East Side and move the family there.

Edward and Hedwig argued frequently over money, especially minor housekeeping expenses even though there was plenty for an array of luxuries. In fact, Edward was quite a tyrant on the domestic front. This conflict and inconsistency drove Alfred to choose a more ascetic way that drove him to minimize the profit aspect of his business enterprises later in life.

The Stieglitz household was a lively place, often filled with artists, writers, musicians and creative thinkers of all sorts. This probably created in Alfred, the sensitivity toward the needs of struggling artists and his desire to support and provide opportunities for them to show their work.

Alfred was not much of a student but had strong manual dexterity as well as a determination to practice and learn new skills, which no doubt served him well later, as he worked patiently to master photographic skills and techniques. He was also the type of person that tested the limits and rules.

His father retired from business suddenly and moved the family to Germany in 1881 to take advantage of educational and cultural opportunities in Europe. The next year, Stieglitz began studying mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. He had little enjoyment in his coursework and spent free time immersed in the cultural scene of theater, operas and concerts. The following year, an impulse purchase of a camera was life changing for him. He soon switched to the study of photography.

Coming of Age, Discovering a Passion

Alfred set up a makeshift darkroom and set about experimenting. He took coursework from world renowned Dr. Hermann Wilhem Vogel, on the science and chemistry of photography in a state of the art lab. He dedicated himself to experimentation for the sake of his art, which spilled over into all aspects of his life. Eventually he referred to his various galleries as his laboratories. Edward came to accept that his son's destiny was in photography and not mechanical engineering after all.

Traveling through the European countryside with his camera on foot or bike during the summer of 1883, Alfred took many photographs of peasants working on the Dutch seacoast and undisturbed nature scenes within Germany's Black Forest.

Stieglitz won prizes and attention throughout Europe in the 1880s for his photography. He received more than 150 awards during this time, which led to appointments on judging panels for exhibits. He began to write up and submit solutions to technical problems to photographic publications as well. Meanwhile Alfred continued to hone his technique in photos of cityscapes and architectural views on platinum paper with its velvet-like surface and subtle changes of tone. His persistent experimentation and testing of accepted rules of photography brought about revolutionary advances in photographic technique. At the Berlin Jubilee Exhibition in 1889, Stieglitz demonstrated that a photo could be exposed, developed and printed in a record time of thirty seven minutes. This had extraordinary impact on photo journalism.

Stieglitz returns to America

Alfred's parents had returned to America in 1886. In his independence, Stieglitz became involved in more than one unstable romance that his father did not approve of. Edward, who was still supporting his son, made it clear that it was time for Alfred to return to New York, embark on a career and find a suitable wife.

Alfred married Emmeline Obermeyer in 1893, after his return to New York. They a daughter, Kitty, in 1898. Allowances from Emmeline's father and his own enabled Stieglitz financial freedom to pursue his photography.

From 1893 to 1896, Stieglitz was editor of American Amateur Photographer magazine. However, his editorial style proved to be brusque and autocratic, alienating many subscribers. After being forced to resign, Stieglitz turned to the New York Camera Club (later renamed The Camera Club of New York, still in existence). He retooled their newsletter into a serious art periodical, announcing that every published image would be a picture, not a photograph. This statement allowed Stieglitz to determine which was which by his scientific method.

Stieglitz's The Steerage, a 1907 photograph of working class people crowding two decks of a transatlantic steamer.

Photo-Secession and Modern Art Galleries

Big camera clubs that were the vogue in America at the time did not satisfy him. In 1902 he organized an invitation only group, which he dubbed the Photo-Secession. The purpose of the group was to force the art world to recognize photography "as a distinctive medium of individual expression." Among its members were Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier, Clarence Hudson White and Alvin Langdon Coburn. Steichen and Stieglitz, who first met in 1900, were to become partners in efforts to introduce modern art to America.

Photo-Secession held its own exhibitions and published Camera Work, a pre-eminent quarterly photographic journal, until 1917. Stieglitz served as editor. Camera Work fulfilled Stieglitz' vision by its reputation as THE art publication for the avant garde and art connoisseur. The journal also served as a record of Stieglitz' introduction of modern art to America.

From 1905 to 1917, Stieglitz managed the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue (which came to be known as 291). Artists shown at 291 included Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, Brancusi, Rodin, John Marin, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp. Because of his time spent in Paris immersed in the art scene, Edward Steichen was instrumental in meeting many of these artists and introducing their work to show at 291, for the first time in America.

Photographer Paul Haviland arrived on the scene at 291 in 1908. Steiglitz and Steichen were discussing closing the gallery due to Steiglitz' fatigue and increased overhead. Haviland, a French-born descendant of wealth, was inspired by a Rodin exhibit at the gallery and offered patronage to continue the operation. Steiglitz, always proud, resisted at first but was coaxed by Steichen, George Bernard Shaw and other colleagues to accept Haviland's help and continue the endeavor. Haviland became a strong partner, helping to facilitate art exhibits and learning more about photography from Stieglitz.

In 1910, Stieglitz was invited to organize a show at Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, which set attendance records. He was insistent that "photographs look like photographs," so that the medium of photography would be considered with its own aesthetic credo, separating photography from other fine arts such as painting, and defining photography as a fine art for the first time. This approach to photography gained the term "straight photography" in contrast to other forms of photography such as "pictorial photography" which practiced manipulation of the image pre and/or post exposure.


A Stieglitz portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe in 1918.

Enter Georgia O'Keeffe

Stieglitz divorced his wife Emmeline in 1918. This happened soon after she threw him out of their house after coming home to find him photographing Georgia O'Keeffe. Shortly thereafter, Stieglitz moved in with O'Keeffe.

The two married in 1924. Both enjoyed success. He in photography, she as an artist who had received notoriety from Stieglitz at 291 in 1916 and 1917. Stieglitz began photographing O'Keeffe in 1916. Over the next two decades he comprised one of his greatest works, his collective portrait of O'Keeffe (over 300 images) which was a collaborative process between sitter and photographer.

Eventually, the marriage between O'Keeffe and Stieglitz became strained as she became a caregiver to him due to his prevailing heart condition and his hypochondria. Following a visit to Santa Fe and Taos in 1929, O'Keeffe began to spend a portion of most summers in New Mexico.

The Later Years

In the 1930s, Stieglitz took a series of photographs, some nude, of heiress Dorothy Norman. In O'Keeffe's mind, Norman became a serious rival for Stieglitz's affections. This caused additional strain in the marriage, their relationship being one of conflict and reconciliation. But the two carried on and the relationship between Stieglitz and O'Keeffe eventually transformed to one of acceptance and affection.

In these years, he also presided over two non-commercial New York City galleries, The Intimate Gallery and An American Place. It was at An American Place that he forged his friendship with the great 20th century photographer Ansel Adams. Adams displayed many prints in Stieglitz's gallery, corresponded with him and photographed Stieglitz on occasion.

Stieglitz was a great philanthropist and sympathizer with his fellow human beings. He once received a phone call during one of Adams' visits. A man wanted to show Stieglitz some work. He invited him over, looked at the prints, looked at the man in a rather disheveled state of affairs and looked at the work again. He then offered to buy the paintings and gave him a ten dollar bill, told him to get something warm to eat, get cleaned up, and come back so that they could iron out the details. The look in the man's eyes could have been an eternal testament to the kindness that was Alfred Stieglitz.

Stieglitz's stopped taking photographs in 1937 due to heart disease. Over the last ten years of his life, he summered at Lake George, New York. Stieglitz worked in a shed he had converted into a darkroom. O'Keeffe and Stieglitz wintered in Manhattan. He died in 1946 at 82, still a staunch supporter of O'Keeffe and she of him.

Legacy

Stieglitz was instrumental in introducing modern art to United States. Through ownership of a series of galleries, he exposed people to avant garde artworks, including the work of painter, Georgia O'Keeffe. He is also known for his marriage and creative partnership to O'Keeffe, most famous for her large-scale paintings of flowers.

Pictures by Stieglitz:

  • The Last Joke—Bellagio (1887; gathering of children in a photograph praised for its spontaneity, won first prize in The Amateur Photographer that year)
  • Sun Rays—Paula, Berlin (1889; a young woman writes a letter lit by sunlight filtered through Venetian blinds)
  • Spring Showers (1900-1901)
  • The Hand of Man (1902); a train pulling into the Long Island freight yard)
  • The Steerage (photographed in 1907 but unpublished until 1911; famous photograph of working class people crowding two decks of a transatlantic steamer)
  • The Hay Wagon (1922)
  • Equivalent (1931; a picture of clouds taken as pure pattern)

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Whelan, Richard. 1995. Alfred Stieglitz a biography. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0316934046
  • Hoffman, Katherine. 2004. Stieglitz A Beginning Light. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300102399
  • Weber, Eva. 1994. Alfred Stieglitz. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 051710332X
  • Eisler, Benita. 1991. O'Keefe and Stieglitz an American romance. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385261225

External links


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