Alfred Stieglitz's contribution to the history of photography extends far beyond his photographic work. He worked tirelessly through his efforts as a photographer, collector, curator, writer, and publisher to secure photography's role as a legitimate medium of fine art. Although his early photographs were Pictorialist in style, he eventually came to believe that his photographs could be metaphorical equivalents of his internal feelings. Stieglitz promulgated the idea that a straight, unaltered photograph could be a means of personal expression. His late work focused in depth on a few subjects, including New York City, a portrait series of his wife, the painter Georgia O'Keeffe, and the cloud studies that he called Equivalents, which represented the culmination of his theories on modernism and photography.
Stieglitz was born in 1864 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Enrolled in 1882 as a student of mechanical engineering in the Technische Hochschule in Berlin, he was first exposed to photography when he took a photochemistry course in 1883. From then on he was involved with photography, first as a technical and scientific challenge, later as an artistic one. In 1905, with Edward Steichen, he founded the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York, which later became known simply as 291. Stieglitz was also a founder of the Photo-Secessionist and Pictorialist photography movements in the United States and promoted them in Camera Notes and Camera Work, the influential journals that he founded and edited. In 1929 Stieglitz opened a gallery called An American Place, which he was to operate until his death in 1946, in New York.
His work is exhibited in numerous museums and prominent institutions and is part of public and private collections all around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; George Eastman House, Rochester; Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; The Art Institute of Chicago; Philadelphia Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Stieglitz’s work has been published in many books and catalogues including Stieglitz, Camera Work (2013), Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set - Volume I & II: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs (2002), Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings (1999), Alfred Stieglitz (Aperture Masters of Photography) (2005), and Alfred Stieglitz (1976).
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Alfred StieglitzNovember Days, Munich, 1884Gelatin silver print mounted to board, printed c. 1920s-30s8 5/3 x 4 in. (24.6 x 10.2 cm)
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Alfred StieglitzSunday Afternoon - From My Window, 1111 Madison Avenue, Looking South, 1901Gelatin silver print mounted to board, printed c. 1920s-1930s3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in (8.9 x 11.4 cm)
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Alfred StieglitzEquivalent [169b], 1925Gelatin silver print flush mounted to board, printed c. 19254 5/8 x 3 5/8 in (11.8 x 9.2 cm)
Mount: 13 1/2 x 10 7/8 in.
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Alfred StieglitzEquivalent 77, 1926Gelatin silver print mounted to board, printed c. 19264 5/8 x 3 5/8 in (11.8 x 9.2 cm)
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Alfred StieglitzEquivalent, 1927Vintage Gelatin silver print mounted to board, printed c. 19274 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.
12.1 x 9.2 x 0.0 cm -
Alfred StieglitzGrasses, 1934Gelatin silver print, printed c. 19344 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (11.4 x 8.9 cm)
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Alfred StieglitzThe Two Poplars-- Lake George, 1934, printed c. 1934Gelatin silver print mounted to board9 5/16 x 7 3/8 in.
23.65 x 18.73 x 0.0 cm -
Alfred StieglitzEmmy Obermeyer, Tea Island, Lake George, c. 1893Platinum print mounted to board, printed c. 1895-18963 3/8 x 4 1/2 in (8.6 x 11.4 cm)
Mount: 8 x 10 in -
Alfred StieglitzLake George, c. 1930sGelatin silver print mounted to board, printed c. 1930s3 1/2 x 4 5/8 in (8.9 x 11.7 cm)
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20th Anniversary Exhibition
REWIND 16 Dec 2021 - 19 Feb 2022 Gallery ExhibitionsBruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to announce REWIND, a celebration of our 20th anniversary. Featuring works selected from over one hundred exhibitions, REWIND is an opportunity to revisit the gallery's...Read more -
Songs and the Sky
An Exhibition of Art and Music 28 Apr - 25 Jun 2016 Gallery ExhibitionsBruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Songs and the Sky, an exhibition of art and music.Read more -
Inscribed
10 Dec 2015 - 23 Jan 2016 Gallery ExhibitionsBruce Silverstein / 20 is pleased to present Inscribed.Read more -
Seven Americans
Demuth, Dove, Hartley, Marin, O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, Strand 6 Sep - 19 Oct 2012 Gallery ExhibitionsBruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Seven Americans, a rendition of Alfred Stieglitz’ eponymous 1925 exhibition, which showcased seven of the most important American artists working during the period:...Read more -
Cloud 9
Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston 10 Mar - 25 Apr 2009 Gallery ExhibitionsCloud 9 is a group of nine original vintage photographs of the sky by esteemed photographers Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward WestonRead more
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Frieze Masters
13 - 17 Oct 2021For the tenth anniversary of Frieze Masters, Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Series and Sequence , an exhibition featuring works spanning the nearly...Read more -
Art Basel
Online Viewing Room 19 - 26 Jun 2020Bruce Silverstein is pleased to participate in the second iteration of Art Basel’s digital platform designed to connect galleries and collectors from around the world....Read more -
Paris Photo
7 - 10 Nov 2019Works by: Diane Arbus, Eugene Atget, Bill Brandt, Anne Brigman, Harry Callahan, Imogen Cunningham, Louis Draper, Frantisek Drtikol, Elger Esser, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Jaromir...Read more -
AIPAD
4 - 7 Apr 2019Featured artists: Lewis Baltz, Ilse Bing, Constantin Brâncuși, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Imogen Cunningham, F. Holland Day, Frantisek Drtikol, Pierre Dubreuil, Walker...Read more -
Frieze Masters
4 - 7 Oct 2018Featured artists: Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Constantin Brâncuși, Bill Brandt, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, F. Holland Day, František Drtikol, William Eggleston, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Robert...Read more -
The Photography Show
Presented by AIPAD 5 - 8 Apr 2018Featured Artists: Werner Bischof, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Constantin Brâncuși, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Mark Cohen, Elliot Erwitt, Walker Evans, Mishka Henner, Todd Hido, André Kertész, Dorthea Lange,...Read more -
Paris Photo
10 - 13 Nov 2016Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present at Paris Photo an exhibition inspired by one of the cornerstones of modern art, F. Holland Day’s seminal...Read more -
Frieze Masters
6 - 9 Oct 2016Featured artists: Constantin Brancusi, Marie Cosindas, F. Holland Day, André Kertész, Alfred Leslie, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Outerbridge, Irving Penn, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko, Aaron Siskind,...Read more -
Paris Photo
12 - 15 Nov 2015Artists: Ilse Bing, Werner Bischof, Erwin Blumenfeld, Constantin Brancusi, Bill Brandt, Brassai, Anne Brigman, Robert Doisneau, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Robert Heinecken, Mishka...Read more -
Frieze Masters
14 - 18 Oct 2015The gallery is pleased to present a selection of modern photographic masterpieces at Frieze Masters in London from October 14 to 18, 2015. Artists include...Read more