Alfred Stieglitz created the Photo-Secession in 1902. He created this group to break away from conventional ideas at the time and to help promote photography as a fine art form. Photographers who belonged to this group used a specific type of photography called pictorialism, which is a type of style that emphasizes the beauty of the subject, tonality, and composition of the photo rather than the documentation of reality. Pictorialism also appropriates negatives of photos into making them similar to drawings and oil paintings. Stieglitz started this movement in New York and it spread over to Europe during the early 20th century. To help promote the Photo-Secession and its goals, Stieglitz would publish a magazine called Camera Works, with its first publication in January 1903. There would be 50 issues published until 1917. Stieglitz had also opened a gallery originally called Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (later called 291) It was originally used to promote Photo-Secession and by 1909 it expanded into promoting other progressive art forms such as sculptors and printmaking.
This allowed Stieglitz to open an exhibit in the Albright Gallery in 1910. This was his dream come true after he had told his friends that this was “The full recognition of photography by an important art museum!” That was what propelled his fame in the art world and allowed his work to get some recognition. Around 1917 is when his magazine Camera Works stopped publishing due to his conflicting views with what he had originally published in the magazine. H had also seemingly lost interest in promoting photography as a fine art form similar to paintings.
Szarkowski, John. "Alfred Stieglitz". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Stieglitz. Accessed 3 April 2023.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Photo-Secession". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 May. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Photo-Secession. Accessed 3 April 2023.
Winter, Fifth Avenue, photogravure by Alfred Stieglitz, 1892; published in Camera Work, No. 12, October 1905. Accessed 3 April 2023