Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Photo-Secession

 

Group of U.S. photographers influenced by the Pictorialist movement. Founded in 1902 by Alfred Stieglitz, the Photo-Secession sought recognition of photography as an art to be judged on its own terms. It was akin to such groups as the Linked Ring in London, and its name reflected that of the Sezession movement in Austria and Germany. The group regularly showed its work at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, also known as "291" (its address on Fifth Avenue in New York City), a gallery run by Stieglitz. While Stieglitz did not believe in retouching or manipulating negatives or prints, others of the group, such as Edward Steichen, were adherents of the impressionistic soft-focus school and the new techniques. By 1910 many members of the group left due to different aesthetic visions. The record of the Photo-Secession is contained in the quarterly Camera Work (1903 – 17).

For more information on Photo-Secession, visit Britannica.com.

Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics
Art Encyclopedia: Photo-Secession
Top

Group of mainly American Pictorialist photographers founded by ALFRED STIEGLITZ in New York in 1902, with the aim of advancing photography as a fine art. Stieglitz, who chose the organization's name partly to reflect the Modernism of European artistic Secession movements, remained its guiding spirit. Other leading members included Alvin Langdon Coburn, Gertrude K?sebier, Edward Steichen and Clarence H. White. The Secession also exhibited and published work by Europeans, for example Robert Demachy, Frederick H. Evans, Heinrich K?hn and Baron Adolf de Meyer, who shared the Americans' attitude that photography was a valid medium of artistic expression (see PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY).

See the Abbreviations for further details.



Photography Encyclopedia: Photo-Secession
Top

Founded by the brilliant but domineering Alfred Stieglitz in 1902, the Photo-Secession is perhaps unique in the history of world arts organizations for being both apparently open and uncompromisingly exclusive in its structure and stated aims. Stieglitz had fallen out with the Camera Club of New York, whose journal, Camera Notes, he had created and edited. He and his followers had been increasingly influenced by forward-looking photographic organizations abroad such as the Linked Ring Brotherhood in England and secessionist movements in Austria and Germany. These groups sought to emancipate themselves from the constraints of existing photographic organizations that, they felt, inhibited individual expression and the recognition of photography as a fine art on a par with painting and sculpture. Key early figures in the Photo-Secession were Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence H. White, Joseph T. Keiley (1869-1914), Edward Steichen, Frank Eugene, and Alvin Langdon Coburn. The full founding governing council consisted of thirteen ‘founders’, selected from a pool of elected ‘fellows’. The ranks of lesser, associate members, initially numbering 28, would soon swell to well over 100.

In 1903 Stieglitz brought forth the first issue of Camera Work, in which the intentions of the Photo-Secession were more clearly articulated. The organization mounted significant shows of photography, most notably the International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in Buffalo in 1910. But Stieglitz's autocratic ways and growing interest in the exhibiting of modern art generally—not just photography—began to alienate some of his followers. Although never formally disbanded, the Photo-Secession effectively ended with the closing of Stieglitz's Gallery 291 and the cessation of Camera Work in 1917.

— Tim Troy

Bibliography

  • Doty, R., Photo-Secession: Stieglitz and the Fine-Art Movement in Photography (1960; repr. 1978).
  • Homer, W. I., Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession (1983)
Wikipedia: Photo-Secession
Top
Advertisement for the Photo-Secession and the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, designed by Edward Steichen. Published in Camera Work no. 13, 1906

The Photo-Secession was an early 20th century movement that promoted photography as a fine art in general and photographic pictorialism in particular. A group of photographers, led by Alfred Stieglitz and F. Holland Day in the early 1900s, held the then 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 counter part to the Linked Ring, an invitation only British group which seceded from the Royal Photographic Society.

Contents

Context and history

The group was formed in 1902 after Stieglitz was asked by the National Arts Club to put together an exhibition of the best in contemporary American photography. While organizing the show Stieglitz had a disagreement with some of the more conservative members of the Club about which photographers should be included. To strengthen his position, Stieglitz rapidly formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to give the impression that his views were backed by many other prominent photographers. Although he later claimed that he had “enlisted the aid of the then newly organized and limited ‘Photo-Secession’, in fact there was no such group until he formed it on February 17, 1902, just two weeks before the show at the National Arts Club was scheduled to start.[1]

In naming the group Steiglitz is thought to have been influenced by the 1898 Munich Secession Exhibition (Verglag des Vereines Bildender Kunstler Muchnes "Sezession"). Stieglitz corresponded frequently with Fritz Matthies-Masuren[2], who wrote an essay in the catalog for the Munich exhibition, and he was capitivated by the thought of photographers defining their own art form. In 1899 he wrote:

"In Munich, the art-centre of Germany, the 'Secessionists', a body of artists compromising the most advanced and gifted men of their times, who (as the name indicates have broken away from the narrow rules of custom and tradition) have admitted the claims of the pictorial photograph to be judged on its merits as a work of art independently, and without considering the fact that it has been produced through the medium of the camera."[3]

Later in his life, Steiglitz gave this account about the origins of the Photo-Secession:

National Arts Club Director Charles De Kay "What shall we call this [exhibition]?"
Stieglitz: "Call it An Exhibition of American Photography arranged by the Photo-Secession"
De Kay: "What's that? Who is it?"
Stieglitz: "Yours truly, for the present, and there'll be others when the show opens. The idea of Secession is hateful to Americans - they'll be thinking of the Civil War. I'm not. Photo-Secession actually means a seceding from the accepted idea of what constitutes a photograph."[4]

Cultural historian Jay Bochner points out that it is important to look at the Photo-Secession for more than visual aesthetics:

"What, then, was this secession from? It was not only from artwork that had gone stale through the copying of Victorian, conventional styles, but more importantly from the dictatorship of the entrenched institutions, galleries, art schools and professional art organizations that enforced or at very least sanctioned copying or imitation."[5]

Proponents of Pictorialism, which was the underlying value of the Photo-Secession, argued that photography needed to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Pictorialists believed that just as what made a painting distinctive was the artist’s manipulation of the materials to achieve an effect, so too should the photographer alter or manipulate the photographic image. Among the methods used were soft focus; special filters and lens coatings; burning, dodging and/or cropping in the darkroom to edit the content of the image; and alternative printing processes such as sepia toning, carbon printing, platinum printing or gum bichromate processing.

Content of the images often referred to previous work done by other artists, especially Greek and Roman art. Images often contained stylistic consistency such as dramatic lighting, perspective, geometric, monochrome/black and white, and high contrast.

In founding the Photo-Secession, Stieglitz asserted that it was a “rebellion against the insincere attitude of the unbeliever, of the Philistine, and largely exhibition authorities.” [6] While this was in part true, his actions demonstrated that the creation of the Photo-Secession was also about advancing his own position in the world of photography and art.

Stieglitz’s sole role in forming and tightly controlling the Photo-Secession was made clear by two exchanges that took place at the opening of the National Arts Club show. In the first, Stieglitz implied that membership in the group was relatively open:

Gertrude Käsebier: “What’s this Photo-Secession? Am I a photo-secessionist?”
Stieglitz: “Do you feel that you are?”
Käsebier: “I do”
Stieglitz: “Well, that’s all there is to it.”[1]

However, when Charles Berg asked Stieglitz if he, too, was a Photo-Secessionist, Stieglitz brusquely informed him he was not.[1] Stieglitz gave this response even though he was the one responsible for including three of Berg’s photos in the show.

The “membership” of the Photo-Secession varied according to Stieglitz’s interests and temperament, centered around a core group of Stieglitz, Steichen, White, Käsbier, Eugene, Day, and, later, Alvin Langdon Coburn.

The photographers who were included in the first exhibition were C. Yarnell Abbott, Prescott Adamson, Arthur E. Becher, Charles I. Berg, Alice Boughton, John G. Bullock, Rose Clark and Elizabeth Flint Wade, F. Colburn Clarke, F. Holland Day, Mary M. Devens, William B. Dyer, Thomas M. Edmiston, Frank Eugene, Dallett Fuguet, Tom Harris, Gertrude Käsebier, Joseph T. Keily, Mary Morgan Keipp, Oscar Maurer, William B. Post, Robert S. Redfield, W. W. Renwick, Eva Watson-Schütze, T. O’Conor Sloane, Jr., Ema Spencer, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Edmund Stirling, Henry Troth, Mathilde Weil and Clarence H. White.

In 1905 Stieglitz established the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, a small but highly influential gallery where he continued to exhibit some of the more well-known members of the movement. The group continued to exhibit under the Photo-Secession name until about 1910, when several photographers finally grew tired of Stieglitz’s autocratic ways and finally left the group.

In 1916 Käsebier, White, Coburn and others formed an organization call the Pictorial Photographers of America(PPA) to continue promotion of the pictorial style. A year later Stieglitz formally dissolved the Photo-Secession, although by that time it existed in name only.

Stieglitz's statement

The following notice appeared in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903

The Photo-Secession

"So many are the enquiries as to the nature and aims of the Photo- Secession and requirements of eligibility to membership therein, that we deem it expedient to give a brief résumé of the character of this body of photographers.
The object of the Photo-Secession is: to advance photography as applied to pictorial expression; to draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in the art, and to hold from time to time, at varying places, exhibitions not necessarily limited to the productions of the Photo-Secession or to American work.
It consists of a Council (all of whom are Fellows); Fellows chosen by the Council for meritorious photographic work or labors in behalf of pictorial photography, and Associates eligible by reason of interest in, and sympathy with, the aims of the Secession.
In order to give Fellowship the value of an honor, the photographic work of a possible candidate must be individual and distinctive, and it goes without saying that the applicant must be in thorough sympathy with our aims and principles.
To Associateship are attached no requirements except sincere sympathy with the aims and motives of the Secession. Yet, it must not be supposed that these qualifications will be assumed as a matter of course, as it has been found necessary to deny the application of many whose lukewarm interest in the cause with which we are so thoroughly identified gave no promise of aiding the Secession. It may be of general interest to know that quite a few, perhaps entitled by their photographic work to Fellowship, have applied in vain. Their rejection being based solely upon their avowed or notoriously active opposition or equally harmful apathy. Many whose sincerity could not be questioned were refused Fellowship because the work submitted was not equal to the required standard. Those desiring further information must address the Director of the Photo-Secession, Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, 1111 Madison Avenue, New York."

List of members

List of Members of the Photo-Secession, found in Camera Work, no. 3, Supplement, July 1903

Fellows (Founders and Council)

The following were also listed Fellows, but not members of the Council

Associates

  • Prescott Adamson - Philadelphia
  • W. P. Agnew - New York
  • A. C. Bates - Cleveland, Ohio
  • Edward LaVelle Bourke - Chicago
  • Annie W. Brigman - Oakland, Cal.
  • Norman W. Carkhuff - Washington
  • W. E. Carlin - New York
  • J. Mitchell Elliot - Philadelphia
  • Dr. Milton Franklin - New York
  • George A. Heisey – Newark, Oh.
  • Sam S. Holzman - New York
  • Marshall P. Kernochan - New York
  • Sarah H. Ladd - Portland, Ore.
  • Chester Abbott Lawrence - New York
  • Fred K. Lawrence - Chicago
  • Oscar Maurer - San Francisco
  • William J. Mullins - Franklin, Pa.
  • Olive M. Potts - Philadelphia
  • Harry B. Reid - New York
  • Harry C. Rubincam - Denver
  • T. O’Conor Sloane - Orange, N. J.
  • Walter P. Stokes - Philadelphia
  • Mrs. George A. Stanbery - Zanesville, Ohio
  • Katherine Stanbery - Zanesville, Ohio
  • George B. Vaux - Philadelphia
  • Mary Vaux - Philadelphia
  • Lily E. White - Portland, Ore.
  • Myra Wiggins - Salem, Ore.
  • Arthur W. Wilde - Philadelphia

Later the following photographers were listed as Members of the Photo-Secession.[7] Unlike Fellows and Associates, no definition was given of what constituted a member. All categories and assignments of membership were made by Stieglitz himself.

  • Charlotte C. Albright - Buffalo, N. Y.
  • J. W. Alexander - New York
  • John Aspinwall - Newburgh, N.Y.
  • Alice Boughton - New York
  • A. K. Boursault - New York
  • John M. Bowles - New York
  • F. E. Brown - Grand Rapids, Mich.
  • Francis Bruguière - San Francisco
  • Elizabeth Buehrmann - Chicago
  • Charles H. Caffin - New York
  • S. R. Carter -Toronto, Canada
  • Mrs. F. F. Coburn - New York
  • C. C. Crowther - Kobe, Japan
  • S. D. Dixon - New York
  • J. M. Drivet - New York
  • Charles B. Duryea - New York
  • Hiram Duryea - New York
  • W. G. Eckstein - New York
  • Frank Eugene - New York
  • Herbert G. French - Cincinnati
  • George Haviland - New York
  • Paul B. Haviland - New York
  • L. A. Heinsheimer - New York
  • H. A. Hess - Springfield, Ill.
  • J. P. Hodgins - Toronto, Canada
  • L. J. R. Holst - New York
  • S. S. Hornor - Concordville, Pa.
  • F. W. Hunter - New York
  • W. F. James - Chicago
  • Frances B. Johnston - Washington
  • Walter G. Jones - New York
  • Edward W. Keck - Rochester, N. Y.
  • Spencer, Jr. Kellogg - Buffalo, N. Y.
  • J. B. Kerfoot - New York
  • R. Kimbell - New York
  • Louis A. Lamb - Chicago
  • H. W. Lance - New York
  • J. N. Laurvik - New York
  • S. Brainerd Lawrence - New York
  • Adelaide C.[sic] Leeson - Douglas, Alaska
  • A. A. Lewis - New York
  • Helen. Lohman - New York
  • C. H. Macdowell - Chicago
  • F. F. Marks - Camden, N. J.
  • L. M. McCormick - Asheville, N. C.
  • Arthur. Mooney - New York
  • Charles Peabody - Cambridge, Mass.
  • Jeanette B. Peabody - Cambridge, Mass.
  • F. H. Pratt - Worcester, Mass.
  • Landon Rives - Cobham, Va.
  • C. W. Roepper - Philadelphia
  • L. B. Schram - New York
  • Sarah C. Sears -Boston
  • George Seeley - Stockbridge, Mass.
  • H. S. Smith - Boston
  • L. F. Stephany - Pittsburgh
  • Albert E. Sterner - New York
  • Karl Strauss - New York
  • Elizabeth R. Tyson - Boston
  • S. S. Webber - Trenton, N. J.
  • W. E. Wilmerding - New York

References

  1. ^ a b c William Innes Homer (2002). Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession 1902. NY:Viking Studio. pp. 22,24–25. 
  2. ^ Weston Naef (1978). The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz: Fifty Pioneers of Modern Photography. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 63. 
  3. ^ Alfred Stieglitz (November 1899). "Pictorial Photography". Scribner's Magazine (6): 534. 
  4. ^ Alfred Steiglitz (transcribed by Cary Ross) (1942). "The Origin of the Photo-Secession and How It Became 291". Twice A Year (8-9). 
  5. ^ Jay Bochner (2005). An American Lens: Scenes from Alfred Stieglitz's New York Secession. Cambridge: MIT Press. p. 87. 
  6. ^ Katherine Hoffman (2004). Stieglitz : A Beginning Light. New Haven: Yale University Press Studio. p. 202. 
  7. ^ Robert Doty (1960). Photo Secession - Photography as a Fine Art. Rochest, NY: George Eastman House. p. 104. 

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Art Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Art. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
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 Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Photo-Secession" Read more