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Camera Work, published between 1903 and 1917 by Alfred Stieglitz, and perhaps the most important arts magazine of the early 20th century. In its 50 issues essayists and artists pronounced on the rapidly evolving world of art and photography. The work of key new artists from both sides of the Atlantic, John Marin, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Rodin, Marius De Zayas, and others, was represented. In fact, artists such as Matisse appeared in Camera Work several years before the celebrated Armory Show of 1913.

Stieglitz, founder of the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (1905-8) and its successor, Gallery 291 (1908-17), saw the need for a journal that would celebrate photography as a fine art; indeed, an art that, as with painting, sculpture, and music, would inevitably evolve with time. He had founded or edited several earlier journals, American Amateur Photographer and Camera Notes, but in each of these he had encountered resistance to his ideas.

Camera Work became a forum for lively criticism and debate about not only photography but the arts in general. R. Child Bayley, Robert Demachy, Frederick Evans, Sadakichi Hartmann, George Bernard Shaw, and Edward Steichen were among the many who contributed opinion pieces; Gertrude Stein's first writing appeared in the journal. The images presented in Camera Work were meticulously printed, making it unique in the world of periodicals. Detailed descriptions of the techniques used to produce them were also included.

It is significant that the last issue of the journal (49/50, June 1917) introduced the radical work of Paul Strand.

— Tim Troy

Bibliography

  • Green, J., Camera Work: A Critical Anthology (1973)
 
 
Wikipedia: Camera Work
Clarence H. White's photo, Ring Toss, featured in an edition of Camera Work
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Clarence H. White's photo, Ring Toss, featured in an edition of Camera Work

Camera Work was a quarterly photographic publication by Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secessionists from 1902 to 1917 that was known for its high-quality reproductions and its effort to establish photography as a fine art.

In 1893 Alfred Stieglitz was editor of American Amateur Photographer but true his brusque, autocratic editorial style alienated many subscribers. After being forced to resign in 1896, Stieglitz turned to the New York Camera Club and retooled its newsletter into a serious art periodical known as Camera Work [needs citation]. He announced that every published image would be a picture, not a photograph. In 1902 Stieglitz formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to force the art world to recognize photography "as a distinctive medium of individual expression." Among its members were Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier, Clarence White and Alvin Langdon Coburn. Photo-Secession held its own exhibitions and became the publisher of Camera Work.

In the inaugural issue, Stieglitz proclaimed that:

"Only examples of such work as gives evidence of individuality and artistic worth, regardless of school, or contains some exceptional feature of technical merit, or such as exemplifies some treatment worthy of consideration, will find recognition in these pages."

[1]

Camera Work presented advanced work from American and European photographers and was known for its high quality reproductions. Printed images were hand-pulled photogravures made from original negatives. [2]

In addition to photography, Camera Work also reproduced works of modern art, such as Rodin and Matisse before these works were well known. Due to continuing financing difficulties and the high cost of reproductions, Camera Work ceased publication in 1917. Camera Work legacy remains that it was a forum for redefining the artistic goals of photography.[3]

A collection of Camera Work was appraised in Philadelphia on a 2007 episode of Antiques Roadshow with an estimate worth of $60,000 to $90,000.

References

  1. ^ Photography's Turning Point: The Journal Camera Work (March 5, 2004). Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
  2. ^ Photography's Turning Point: The Journal Camera Work (March 5, 2004). Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
  3. ^ Selections from Camera Work, 1903 - 1911 (July 8, 1999). Retrieved on December 26, 2006.

 
 

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Photography Encyclopedia. The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Camera Work" Read more

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