Stieglitz and beyond

Alfred Stieglitz was probably the most important figure in the history of photography not just for the work he created but in terms of his ability to influence others.

His influence was felt by not just the photographers at the turn of the 20th century such as Edward Steichen, but also painter Georgia O'Keeffe who he ended up marrying.

Stieglitz exposed America to some of the most interesting photography of the time through his magazine Camera Work, while also bringing in work to his gallery 291 by European artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Rodin.

This is the opening clip from a documentary we watched in Class called Alfred Stieglitz: the Eloquent Eye. (available on netflix or the pratt library in brooklyn)



Here are some more pages with info on Stieglitz.

Met Museum Bio
World History of Photography Bio

After the movie we went to see 2 shows which I thought related rather well to what we had learned about.

David Vestal - Once Upon a Time in New York at Robert Mann Gallery.



Alfred Stieglitz. 5th Avenue. 1892



David Vestal. West 22nd St. 1958.

Though it seems like Vestal was more influenced by photographers such as Robert Frank and possibly Alexander Rodchenko, there is no denying that some of the photos have the hand of Stieglitz in them as well.

Paul Strand was very admired by Stieglitz and therefore had the last 2 issues of Camera Work devoted solely to him. We went to the Aperture gallery where we saw his photographs from the 1920 of his time spent in Mexico.













Please continue reading the book. You should be somewhere in the 170s or 180s by next class.