Alfred Stiegliz (1864-1946), for example, was active in New York in the late 1890's and was initially a practitioner in the 'artistic' sense of documentary photography trying to emulate or deliver what drawing and painting had been delivering. Photography was viewed as a replacement for painting so the thinking was that the practices and values of art should be subsumed within photography. However the new century, especially after World War I, saw a growing respect for photography as an independent medium that could offer something different and this was reflected in the work undertaken by Stiegliz in documenting the ephemeral nature of everyday life.
The Terminal 1893 Alfred Stieglitz
In the image above, Stieglitz portrays the crudity of a fledgling transport system. The destination board - Harlem - tells us that this harsh winter weather in a poor area of the city. The image shows how much effort the driver and horses have to put in to be able to operate under such conditions - note the steam coming off the horses. Stieglitz was prepared to wait for four hours to capture this image. He wanted something different and he got it.
The Steerage 1907 Alfred Stieglitz
Stieglitz was very concerned abut the initial treatment of immigrants arriving in large numbers fro Ireland and Europe, hoping for a warm welcome but receiving the opposite. The authorities were concerned about typhoid and other infections diseases and most immigrants were held in isolation for weeks being allowed into America.
Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye (199) - Masters of Photography documentary video about the 'new way of seeing' that Stieglitz wanted to bring to American photography.
In the early 1900's Stieglitz introduced a new approach to the art world when painters of the time considered photographers to be lazy, Stieglitz wanted passionately for photography to be accepted as a form of art. He had a selfish devotion to art, putting his passion before his ill matched first marriage, he was obsessed with his search for truth.
1902 was a watershed year and a turning point regarding the attitudes of painters, Stieglitz formed an elite body of photographers, the internationally acclaimed Photo Sucession with the avant garde Edward Stieglan, a creative and imaginative photographer who was also a painter. They produced Camera Work, a high standard magazine which was a highly prized document.
He collaberated with Stichen to develop 291 on 5th avenue, which they converted into galleries, nothing like this had been done before and was a huge success, Photo Sucession had made photography history, creating a whole new vision for the arts. From 1902- 1907 photograpers were promoted through 291, but Stieglitz had neglected his own work. In 1907, he left for europe, on the journey, he took one of his most famous images 'Steerage', capturing shapes and stirring deep feelings within Stieglitz.
In Paris, Stieglitz brought together the artists Picasso, Cessane and Matise in a social circle where their art could be displayed. Joined by the scuptor Rodin, with whom Stieglitz became close, Stieglitz used Rodin's drawings to produce an exhibition which was considered scandalous and daring, one of the visitors to this exhibition was a female artist Georgia O'Keefe, who would become a significant part of Stieglitz' life.
The venue of 291 with it's social circle brought together groups of the most creative and intelligent people of the time, and became a place where artists would go to find their own road of expression, where there would be a free exchange of ideas. One of the artists to exhibit was Picasso, who shocked critics with his 'mad' pictures which would 'never mean anything in America'. In 1913 Stieglitz felt he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do with the Armery show, a collection of modern art and became a watershed for US and european art.
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