Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings

by Alfred Stieglitz

Returning to print after fifteen years, a high-quality collection of seventy-three images from the career of the pioneering photographer features portraits of artist Georgia O'Keeffe and early twentieth-century New York City. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Art and Photography

246 pages, Hardcover

Published March 1, 1999

About the author

Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz is known for the New York art galleries that he ran in the early part of the 20th century, where he introduced many avant-garde European artists to the U.S. He was married to painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

Reviews

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of Stieglitz' photographs in a coffee table sized book. Also includes a biography and letters.

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings is a lavish large format book originally published by the National Gallery of Art in 1983. It contains a selection of prints from the "key set" donated to the Gallery by Georgia O'Keefe. The seventy-three reproductions are in tritone offset for greater fidelity and are printed on archival paper. My own favorites are the portraits of Duchamp and Picabia and the nude study of Georgia Engelhard. Curiously, there is no reproduction of Stieglitz' most famous image, The City of Ambition.

There is also an essay by Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the Gallery's department of photographs, on "the idea photography" in which she traces the photographer's search for "objective truth." Greenough recognizes the influence of the modern art he championed in Stieglitz' decision to reject pictorialism and the Photo-Secession and instead embrace "straight" photography. It was Stieglitz' search for abstraction in photography that eventually led him to create his Equivalents cl0ud series.

There aren't going to be any surprises in a book such as this, but there is an interesting insight into Stieglitz' character in a quote from a letter he wrote to Ansel Adams dated December 7, 1933.

"... You ask what my attitude is. Man can't you figure it out for yourself. I am trying to sustain life at its highest - to sustain a living standard. To let every moment actually live without any ism or any fashion or cult attached to it... I chose my road years ago - & my road has become a jealous guardian of me. That's all there is to it..."

For those interested in a comprehensive biography of Stieglitz, I can recommend Richard Whelan's Alfred Stieglitz for the honesty with which it approaches its subject.

[M. Sarki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book, large and handsome, good paper, and photographs from another time taken by a master of the camera equipment that he used. It is doubtful we shall see many of these types of photographs any longer as the equipment is outdated and very expensive to use. Certainly dated now, but nonetheless stunning in themselves. Alfred Stieglitz will most likely be best remembered for what he brought to modern art even though in fact he was a very gifted photographer. He also was involved in a great love story and partnership with Georgia O'Keeffe.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book.