Stieglitz, Alfred

Stieglitz, Alfred (1864–1946). American photographer, editor, writer, publisher, and art dealer who during the first two decades of the 20th century did more than anyone else to bring European avant-garde art before the American public. He was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the son of a successful German immigrant businessman, and in 1881 was sent to Berlin to study mechanical engineering. While he was there he developed an interest in photography and by the time he returned to the USA in 1890 he already had an international reputation. In 1905, with another eminent photographer, Edward Steichen (1879–1973), he opened the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, which later became known as 291 Gallery (from its address at 291 Fifth Avenue, New York). It soon branched out from photography, and Stieglitz devoted much of his energy to promoting modernist painting and sculpture; the gallery presented the first American exhibitions of Matisse (1908), Toulouse-Lautrec (1909), Rousseau (1910), Picabia (1913), Severini (1917), and the first one-man exhibition of Brancusi anywhere (1914). It also gave the first exhibition of children's art and the first major exhibition of African art in America. Stieglitz also championed American artists, among them Georgia O'Keeffe, whom he married in 1924.

From 1903 to 1917 Stieglitz edited the journal Camera Work, which he published from the 291 Gallery. At first devoted exclusively to photography, it was later extended to cover all the visual arts and opened its pages to avant-garde American writers. He also published a short-lived Dadaist magazine called 291 (1915–16). The 291 Gallery was closed in 1917 when the building was pulled down, but Stieglitz continued his work with the Intimate Gallery (1925–9) and An American Place (1929–46). In spite of all his other activities, Stieglitz found time for his own photography and he is regarded as one of the most important figures of the history of the medium, playing a large part in establishing it as an independent art form: ‘From 1902 until the time of his death, Stieglitz was the very centre of photographical activity in the United States. He taught, he lectured, he wrote; his influence was incalculable’ ( Cecil Beaton and Gail Buckland, The Magic Image, 1975). His subjects included landscapes, views of New York, and studies of Georgia O'Keeffe, whom he lovingly depicted hundreds of times, often concentrating on details such as her hands or her torso. He rejected retouching and other forms of manipulation, believing that vision was more important than technique, although he insisted on using the best materials. His collection of art and photographs has been distributed to various collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum, New York.