Photography as a Fine Art

The Creation of the Photo Secession

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 20^th 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

The Anderson Galleries and the Intimate Gallery

The Anderson Galleries and the Intimate Gallery were galleries where Alfred Stieglitz was able to show his works after the closing of his 291 galleries. At the Anderson Galleries, Stieglitz was able to show some of his photos that were taken between 1886 to 1921, which feature some of the photos that he had taken of Georgia O’Keeffe. His first exhibition in the Anderson Galleries featured 145 photos that Stieglitz had taken, which was published in 1921. During this time Stieglitz had shifted his art from European influenced modernism to American modernism. The European modernism style was prominently featured in his 291 galleries. All the galleries that Stieglitz had published in the Anderson Galleries were soon featured in the Intimate Gallery, a small space that Stieglitz had rented within the auction house’s building. The Intimate Gallery was supposed to be a place that displayed different types of art; however, Stieglitz was at the center of it, and he was able to control the sales and prices of each piece that was featured. He did this on the financial need of each artist that was featured. In this exhibit, Stieglitz wanted to show modernist art and he would often discuss this with people who were visiting the gallery.

The reason that I offered that background concerning those three events is because it helps me to explain what Georgia O’Keeffe: Hands and Breasts was doing socially and culturally when Alfred Stieglitz created it. To start with, Stieglitz was the one who took the photo and later had it published. His success in the early 20^th century helped give him a platform to publish his work, so when he closed his 291 gallery and stopped publishing his Camera Works magazine, he still had a place where he could show his different works. He had started to create a name for himself and for the type of artwork that he was showing. He helped show that photography can in fact be a type of fine art, which today is now even considered a fine art type. It helped create connections so this type of art could be shown and displayed, and eventually inspire other artists. Georgia O’Keeffe getting her own exhibit helped keep her in the art world and helped her career grow as a modernist artist. With Stieglitz’s status in the art world, using her in his photography helped her gain a platform and an audience. Hands and Breasts was published in the Anderson Galleries, so the fact that Stieglitz was able to publish in the Anderson Galleries helps the photo get attention in the art world.

“Anderson Galleries and the Intimate Gallery.” The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Art Institute Chicago, 2016, https://archive.artic.edu/stieglitz/anderson-galleries-and-the-intimate….

O'Keeffe (hands), photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918; published in Anderson Galleries, Accessed 3 April 2023

Georgia O'Keeffe's Rise in the Art World

Georgia O’Keeffe was an up-and-coming artist in 1917 when she was discovered by Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz had taken many photos of her and published these photos in different exhibits. He would also help get her art published into exhibits, including his old gallery called 291. Her first solo exhibition was in 1923 in New York and featured different paintings she had created. Alfred Stieglitz had called this exhibition Alfred Stieglitz Presents One Hundred Pictures: Oils, Water-colors, Pastels, Drawings, by Georgia O’Keeffe. This exhibition was published at the Anderson Galleries Alfred Stieglitz had called Georgia O’Keeffe the first modernist. “However, he equated the creative process with sexual energies, and from the beginning he defined O’Keeffe’s work primarily in terms of gender, declaring her imagery the visual manifestation of a sexually liberated woman.” (Britannica) By the late 1920s, O’Keeffe had become one of the most celebrated modernist artists. When she was publishing these works, she was strongly opposing the gendered interpretations of her works and the sexualized public image that Alfred Stieglitz had created of her. She promoted herself as a hard-working professional after 1923. She shifted her art style from being more modernist abstract to more recognizable art forms for which she is more recognized today.

Lynes, Barbara Buhler. "Georgia O’Keeffe". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georgia-OKeeffe. Accessed 3 April 2023.

Wikipedia contributors. "A Storm." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 31 Dec. 2022. Web. 3 Apr. 2023.