Photographic Heros: Alfred Stieglitz

Stieglitz was one of the major American photographers at the start of the 20th century. However, to me, at least, he deserves his place in history for promoting modern art and being instrumental in making photography an accepted art form.

There is already so much on the Internet about Stieglitz that I shall not add to it but direct you to some of the more worthwhile pieces.

Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) at 291 by Edward J. Steichen, Gum bichromate over platinum print 1915

If you are looking for a more historical view of his photographic work, then Jeff Curto, a Professor of Photography at DuPage, has an interesting lecture on Stieglitz. The link for that lecture is here. The video below is quite a good overview of his life.

If you look at Stieglitz's photographic work, three significant bodies of work appear in my mind. Urban shots of New York City were often taken from his art gallery windows, Portraits of his lover and later wife Georgia O'Keeffe, and his abstract series of photographs called Equivalents. Let’s have a look at an example of each.

From the Back Window, 291, 1915

This is photograph that just could not be made today. As you look at this photograph notice that the main light in this shot is moon light, and how few gas/electric lights there are. With todays light pollution there is no way we would be able to balance the two different light sources. While the moon light makes the image rather spooky, what I really like the simple uncluttered composition.

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1920

This is one of Stiglitz's many (over 300) photographs of Georgia O'Keeffe. One key thing to note here is the use of the hands, which appear in almost every portrait that he took of her; there is something sensual about them. What I like about this photograph are the lines of her neck, the unusual crop that he used for this photograph, and the beautiful sepia tones.

Lisa Kurzner is an art historian who has studied the development of photographers' ideas in the early 20th century through their portraits of their wives. You can find the lecture here.

Equivalent 1930

This is on a series of abstract photographs Stilglitz took as part of his Equivalents project. The series comprises clouds, atmosphere, and light, in which cloud formations create various moods and textures. He attempted to “put down my philosophy of life—to show that photographs were not due to subject matter”.