Camera Work - Alfred Steiglitz

It is hard to imagine that in the early 1900s debate raged over whether photography was an art or just a mechanical, objective way of recording reality. Alfred Stieglitz led the movement for photography as art by starting a gallery named 291 in New York and by self-publishing his own work and that of his friends and acquaintances in the subscription quarterly magazine Camera Work. The focus was primarily Pictorialism, which involved special lenses and developing processes that lent a dreamy slightly unfocused look to the photos, in stark contrast to today’s interest in sharp digital images. (There is a place for both). It ran from 1903 to 1917 and was hand produced by Steiglitz on heavy fine art paper. Some of the many great artists of the time were featured: Steichen, Clarence White, Paul Strand, Rodin, Matisse, and Picasso among many others. In his gallery 291 he also showed paintings on canvas such as those by his wife Georgia O’Keefe.

There is a nice small publication by the publisher Taschen that reproduces Camera Work. It is much smaller than the original magazine but very nice. It includes the articles and images from the originals. I highly recommend it.

Pete Hendley

www.petehendley.com

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