Alfred Stieglitz

Photographer

• Born: January 1, 1864
• Birthplace: Hoboken, New Jersey
• Died: July 13, 1946
• Place of death: New York, New York

American photographer

Stieglitz was a central figure in the development of early twentieth century photography, in the introduction of modern art to the American people, and, most important, in the discovering and fostering of an indigenous American culture.

Area of achievement Photography

Early Life

In 1849, Edward Stieglitz (STEEG-lihts) came to the United States from Hannover-Münden, Germany. After marrying Hedwig Werner in 1862, this German-Jewish immigrant became a successful woolen merchant. On New Year’s Day, 1864, Hedwig gave birth to their first child, Alfred, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Within seven years, the Stieglitz family grew to include two additional sons and three daughters. In 1872, Edward moved his family to Manhattan, New York, where Alfred grew to early adulthood. In Manhattan, as in Hoboken, Alfred was infused with an appreciation for art by his family and surroundings. His father, an amateur artist, socialized with artists and decorated his home with prints and art objects of the artists of the day.

Stieglitz’s interest in photography was evident at a very early age. At the age of two, he was obsessed with a photograph of his cousin; he carried it with him at all times. At age nine, he encountered his first photographer. The child was completely fascinated with the magical process of film development. When, however, the photographer put carmine on the cheeks of the faces on the tintype and explained that this touch-up made the subjects look more natural, Stieglitz disagreed, stating that this effect merely spoiled the clarity of the images photographed. This insistence on honesty in photography intensified as Stieglitz grew.

As a youth, Stieglitz was considered different. He was intensely observant and sensitive to others’ feelings. Inquisitive and precocious, he spoke German and French as well as English by age seven. He had well-developed feelings of honor and responsibility. Although Stieglitz rejected many of the values and attitudes of his family, like his father he was driven by a need to rid himself of every fault; he demanded honesty and perfection in those around him as well. He was unpredictable and sociable, yet lonely and brooding, and his appearance reflected his nature. His deep-set, dark, piercing eyes seemed to penetrate rather than simply observe; his lips were thin and finely curved, with a slight blue tinge and an almost imperceptible quiver; and he was thin with pale, fine skin. He always wore a mustache and, later in life, glasses with wire-rimmed frames. His coarse, dark hair was usually tousled the image of a mythological creator/god.

In 1879, Stieglitz entered City College in New York. As the lad showed no interest in any one profession, Edward decided his eldest son should pursue a career in chemistry or engineering. Stieglitz had attended City College for two years when his father retired and temporarily moved the family to Germany. Thus, in 1881, Stieglitz enrolled in the Realgymnasium at Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1882, he transferred to the University of Berlin to study mechanical engineering.

As a college youth, he became an ardent collector of art books. He soon acquired an extensive, carefully selected library, which he studied at his leisure. This portable gallery was unique in its stylistic and geographic diversity, which helped Stieglitz develop very eclectic tastes.

In July, 1890, Stieglitz returned to America unwillingly. At his father’s insistence, he entered the photoengraving business with Joseph Obermeyer (who was to become his brother-in-law) and Louis Schubart. Together with financial help from Edward, they bought the Heliochrome Company and renamed it the Photochrome Engraving Company. Stieglitz was a partner in this unsuccessful business for five years, contributing very little.

On November 16, 1893, Stieglitz (because of family pressures) married Emmeline Obermeyer. Although this union was to last twenty-five years, it brought him little happiness. His wife neither shared his interest in photography nor accepted or understood his friends. On September 27, 1898, Stieglitz’s only child, Katherine (Kitty), was born. She, too, proved to be something of a disappointment to him.

Life’s Work

Although Stieglitz’s interest in photography was evident when he was a child, it was not until 1883 that he obtained his first camera, purchased on impulse while shopping in Germany. Shortly thereafter, he made his first print. He soon abandoned his dictated career and began studying photography. He enrolled in Professor Hermann Wilhelm Vogel’s photochemistry class. Vogel, an author and the editor of the German journal Photographische Mitteilungen, soon became Stieglitz’s mentor.

Stieglitz’s passion for photography grew into an obsession. During the early 1880’s, he traveled throughout Europe, photographing much of it. By the mid-1880’s, he began contributing articles to Germany’s photographic publications (the first of more than two hundred articles to be written in his lifetime).

From 1885 to 1887, Stieglitz worked compulsively on his photography. In 1887, he received his first official recognition in the photographic world when he won the first-place award of a silver medal and two guineas in the Holiday Work Competition, sponsored by The Amateur Photographer (a British publication). Within a brief period of time, he received more than 150 such awards.

Stieglitz’s failing photoengraving business and his unhappy marriage encouraged him to spend much of his time taking pictures and experimenting with technique. His work advanced both the art and the science of photography. His work was exhibited frequently, and his artistic integrity soon made him famous in America as well as in Europe.

From 1887 to 1911, Stieglitz’s main goal was to establish photography as a valid form of artistic expression separate from and equal to painting. In accomplishing this goal, he also worked to develop a uniquely American art form. At this time, American photographers were dependent on Europe for ideas for style and content. The European style stressed a hazy and blurry finished product, and the subject was usually pretty and serene. The idea was to make the photograph look like a painting.

Stieglitz, however, did not think that photographs should look like a painter’s work. To this end, and partly because of his search for America’s essence, he began shooting photographs of the streets of New York City. He sought unusual subject matter, such as workhorses, muddy streets, and immigrants in steerage, trying to record the feeling of life within his photographs. He began to break conventions by insisting on clarity and detail and by experimenting with unusual uses of light. His trademark was sharp contrasts of black and white. Stieglitz also realized that fewer objects in a picture drew more attention to the subject; too many objects diffused the impact. He began to study form rather than subject matter. Stieglitz believed that the function of photography was to provide visual truths, not to give aesthetic pleasure.

In 1891, he joined the Society of Amateur Photographers, and in 1893, he became an editor of American Amateur Photographer. As Stieglitz was a born propagandist, he sought to reform the art of photography by taking pen in hand. From 1887 to 1902, he directed his writings to the general public and the amateur photographer. In 1896, he resigned his position as editor of American Amateur Photographer and began editing Camera Notes, the quarterly journal of the Camera Club.

In 1902, Stieglitz, disgusted with the crass commercialism associated with his trade, began a revolution in the world of art. The movement, with Stieglitz as its leader and director, was known as the Photo-Secession. The aims of the movement were to draw together Americans interested in art, to advance photography as applied to pictorial expression, and to hold exhibitions of all artwork. Stieglitz provided the ideological framework for the movement, and it became a very powerful artistic and political influence in the world of photography. Stieglitz’s stand against standardization, institutionalism, and commercialism, as well as his high standards and convictions, attracted talented young people to his group.

Stieglitz’s new publication, Camera Work (1903 to 1915), complemented the Photo-Secession movement. He began to direct his writings to the more artistic photographer. This journal was one of the most important forces in American cultural life at this time. Through it, Stieglitz provided America with a visual record of the achievements of American and European photographers and provided an accurate history of the Photo-Secession. The journal was later used to explain and discuss theories behind the work of Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and other modern artists.

In 1905, Stieglitz founded 291, also known as the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession. (It was referred to as 291 because of its address, 291 Fifth Avenue.) Because of his hatred for commercialism, Stieglitz’s galleries were strictly nonprofit establishments. He received a modest income of twelve hundred dollars a year from his father’s estate; the money received from any works sold went to the artist Stieglitz took no commission. He did not classify himself as a dealer or a businessman. In fact, he often supported the artists in his group so that they could concentrate on their art.

By this time, Stieglitz had been successful in raising American photography to an international level and was soon identified with various schools of art. Because his subjects were everyday, urban scenes, he was associated with the New York realists (later to be called the Ashcan school). His work resembled that of the Impressionists to the extent that they, too with their unorthodox practice of painting in the open air sought to capture the momentary impression. By 1910, Stieglitz saw a definite connection between his work and that of the cubists. While he and the cubists presented two opposite ways of seeing the objective world, both saw art as representing more than a material presence. Stieglitz realized that art in its abstract form was a true medium of expression and that it was antiphotographic. He believed that photography freed artists from the need to depict reality. Painting and photography were not equal; they were antithetical.

From 1908 through 1911, he introduced the work of such innovative artists as Henri Matisse, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso to an initially unreceptive American public. Stieglitz soon convinced the cultural elite that modern art was indeed worth more than the canvas on which it was painted. By 1913, he had become the leading spokesperson for avant-garde art in the United States. He was also the first in the United States to publish the literary works of innovative writers such as Gertrude Stein. Stieglitz recognized that all of the arts were important and interrelated. His main concern was that all work should show honesty, vitality, intensity of feelings, and originality.

In 1915, Stieglitz stopped regular publication of Camera Work. From 1915 to 1916, he edited and published a more radical magazine, 291 (printed in both English and French). It was satirical and critical and exhibited a proto-Dada spirit.

In 1917, with the involvement of the United States in World War I, Stieglitz closed 291 and issued the last special edition of Camera Work. The center for artists now shifted to Greenwich Village. Stieglitz’s active role was suspended until 1925, but his influence continued. He turned his attention to the work of a young artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. It was not until 1916, when he met O’Keeffe, that Stieglitz found true happiness. Stieglitz, at age fifty-two, found a new source of inspiration in the twenty-eight-year-old painter. Six years later, he received his divorce from Emmeline and married O’Keeffe.

In 1924, the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain awarded the Progress Medal to Stieglitz for his work in establishing American pictorial photography and for his contribution in Camera Work. In 1940, he received an honorary fellowship from the Photographic Society of America. In 1925, he opened the Intimate Gallery. In 1928, he suffered a heart attack that left him partially disabled. Nevertheless, he continued presenting exhibitions, and in 1929 he replaced the Intimate Gallery with An American Place, dedicating this new gallery exclusively to exhibiting the work of American artists.

On Stieglitz’s death on July 13, 1946, in New York City, O’Keeffe donated most of his work to various museums, as he had wished. His remains were cremated, and his ashes were secretly dispersed at Lake George, New York, a family retreat that he had loved.

Significance

Stieglitz photographed from the mid-1880’s until 1937. He believed that photography was rooted in external reality. He wanted to photograph what he saw, but, in his mind, he never achieved that goal. His contributions to the art world and to American culture in general are nevertheless profound.

Stieglitz’s most important achievements in the art world were his innovations in photography and his exhibitions of modern art in America. He helped explain art to the American public and change America’s taste in art. He helped young artists in the United States by sponsoring and encouraging them, encouraging them to follow and trust their instincts. He preached that for art in any form to be good, it must have some measure of vital essence; it must be alive. Stieglitz is considered one of the most important humanists of his time because of his insistence on art for life’s sake.

To the United States, Stieglitz gave his love and devotion; he considered himself as one of the leading spiritual forces of America. He had a strong belief in his own genius, and he also had an overwhelming sense of mission. At a time when the United States was shifting to mass production and trying to manufacture more (rather than better) products, Stieglitz was still seeking quality and excellence. This search for excellence, combined with his role in fostering a new art form, helped Americans create their own American cultural identity.

Bibliography

Bochner, Jay. An American Lens: Scenes from Alfred Stieglitz’s New York Secession. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005. Considers Stieglitz’s importance in the development of American modernism by examining his work as a gallery director, photographer, and impresario of an emerging art scene.

Bry, Doris. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographer. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1965. Brief biographical sketch of Stieglitz from 1883 to 1937. The author discusses Stieglitz’s growth as a photographer and his contributions to photography. Contains sixty-two photos (housed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston) that are considered among Stieglitz’s best work. Offers a good, select bibliography that emphasizes sources dealing with Stieglitz as a photographer.

Doty, Robert. Photo-Secession: Stieglitz and the Fine-Art Movement in Photography. New York: Dover, 1978. The major emphasis of this brief monograph is on the background, origin, and work of the Photo-Secession movement. The work discusses the relationship of this movement and Stieglitz to the history of photography. The text is based primarily on original documents, and the reproductions in the portfolio section are taken from Stieglitz’s journal Camera Work. Doty also includes a list of Photo-Secession members.

Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1983. Concentrates mostly on Stieglitz’s work as a photographer rather than as a publisher or gallery director. Explains the evolution of Stieglitz’s understanding of “idea photography.” The work contains seventy-three Stieglitz photos (presented at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.). The book also includes selected letters and articles (presented in chronological order) written by Stieglitz on photography. Very well documented.

Hoffman, Katherine. Stieglitz: A Beginning Light. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004. Focuses on the early years of Stieglitz’s life and career to examine his early contributions to photography. Illustrated with Stieglitz’s photographs.

Homer, William Innes. Alfred Stieglitz and the American Avant-Garde. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1977. Deals with the basic goals and principles of the Photo-Secession movement and presents an excellent biography of Stieglitz. Provides biographical sketches of Stieglitz’s associates and the members of his circle of friends. Also discusses the rivals of 291.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983. A comprehensive study of the Photo-Secession movement. Concentrates not only on the major members but also on some of the minor ones. While the major emphasis is on the movement, the work examines Stieglitz’s life through 1917, particularly his role as the political and artistic leader of the movement.

Norman, Dorothy. Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer. New York: Aperture, 1973. Very good chronology; excellent source for high school level because of the simplicity of the presentation more a dialogue than a narrative. The book is concerned primarily with Stieglitz’s career rather than his personal life, concentrating on his spirit and motivations. Based on conversations the author had with Stieglitz from 1927 to 1946.

Peeler, David P. The Illuminating Mind in American Photography: Stieglitz, Strand, Weston, Adams. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2001. Explores the lives and work of Stieglitz and three other American photographers, discussing their ideas about photography and their contributions to modernism.

Thomas, F. Richard. Literary Admirers of Alfred Stieglitz. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Concentrates on the impact Stieglitz in particular and photography in general have had on the way people see, think, and write. Also discusses Stieglitz’s influence on such literary figures as Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Hart Crane, and Sherwood Anderson. Provides a working knowledge of terminology needed to understand Stieglitz’s work.

Related Articles in Great Events from History: The Twentieth Century

1901-1940: February 17, 1902: Stieglitz Organizes the Photo-Secession; February 17-March 15, 1913: Armory Show; 1921: Man Ray Creates the Rayograph; November 17, 1931: Whitney Museum of American Art Opens in New York; February 12, 1935: Exhibition of American Abstract Painting Opens in New York.