Photography as a fine Art

The Secessionists 

"The Terminal" -1893- by Alfred Stieglitz

Dirigibe - Alfred Stieglitz

Photo-Secession was the first influential group of American photographers that worked to have photography accepted as a fine art. Led by Alfred Stieglitz, the group also included Edward Steichen,Clarence H. White, Gertrude Käsebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn.These photographers broke away from the Camera Club of New York in 1902 and pursued Pictorialism, or techniques of manipulating negatives and prints so as to approximate the effects of drawings, etchings, and oil paintings. The Photo-Secession was inspired by art movements in Europe, such as the Linked Ring, that had similar goals.

"Winter – Fifth Avenue" -1893- by Alfred Stieglitz

Secessionists held the controversial viewpoint that what was significant about a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but the manipulation of the image by the artist/photographer to achieve his or her subjective vision.

The movement helped to raise standards and awareness of art photography. The group is the American counterpart to the Linked Ring, an invitation-only British group which seceded from the Royal Photographic Society.

Alfred Stieglitz

The Art of Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) 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.

Alfred Stieglitz