Introduction to the History of Photography

Winter - Fifth Avenue, 1893 carbon print (?) 39.9 x 32.4 cm.   The Terminal/New York , by Alfred Stieglitz, 1902 Reflections—Night, New York , by Alfred Stieglitz, circa 1896   From My Window at the Shelton, North, 1931 Links: Alfred Stieglitz at the Metropolitan Museum Alfred Stieglitz at George Eastman House  

Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye (1999) A PBS documentary link:     Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and American Photography

Advertisement for the Photo-Secession and the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,  designed by Edward Steichen. Published in Camera Work no. 13, 1906 The following notice appeared in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903 The Photo-Secession     "So many are the enquiries as to the nature and aims of the Photo- Secession and requirements of eligibility to membership therein, that we deem it expedient to give a brief résumé of the character of this body of photographers.     The object of the Photo-Secession is: to advance photography as applied to pictorial expression; to draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in the art, and to hold from time to time, at varying places, exhibitions not necessarily limited to the productions of the Photo-Secession or to American work.     It consists of a Council (all of whom are Fellows); Fellows chosen by the Council for meritorious photographic work or labors in...

 The Photographic Salon exhibition of 1902 (source: Leggat pdf) The Salon was created in 1893 by members of the Linked Ring. "Many artists regard the hanging of their work at the Royal Academy almost as an accolade. So too with photographers. In the 1880s, the exhibitions mounted by the Photographic Society were regarded as the premier event. However, several of its members were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Society's emphasis on scientific as opposed to aesthetic matters. As time went on differences between the photographic scientists and photographic artists became greater and more acrimonious, and Henry Peach Robinson was becoming increasingly frustrated by the failure of the Photographic Society to recognize that there was an artistic dimension as well as a scientific one to photography. The Photographic News for 19 August 1892 pinpointed the problem: "If photography is ever to take up its proper position as an art it must detach itself from s...

The Steerage, 1907 "There were men and women and children on the lower deck of the steerage.... I longed to escape from my surroundings and join them.... A round straw hat, the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning right.... round shapes of iron machinery... I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that, the feeling I had about life..." source: http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/stieglit.htm Portrait of Georgia O' Keefe, 1918