“Embodied Intelligence in the Stieglitz Circle”Article by Kathleen Pyne
Presented by Karen Ralston and Kay Swindell
Photo Secession, 1906
Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz at 291, 1915
Edward Steichen, Self Portrait, 1901Gum Bichromate
Stieglitz, Steichen, StrandThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
November 10, 2010–April 10, 2011
http://www.metmuseum.org Exhibitions Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand See the Collection Database Gallery View
Stieglitz: Photo Secession
“Photo-Secession actually means a seceding from the accepted idea of what constitutes a photograph.”
Promote photography as fine art in general and photographic pictorialism in particular.
Camera Work 1903-1917
Gertrude Käsebier, Evelyn Nesbit, 1932
Gertrude Käsebier, The Sketch, 1899-1902Platinum Print
James Whistler, Nocturnes: Blue and Gold
Old Battersea Bridge 1872 Falling Rocket 1874
Whistler’s Influence on the Photo Secessionists
“Make images as if Whistler held a camera”
Mystery Musicality Soft focus Veiling of subject
Softening TechniquesLinked Ring Group in England
Pinhole photography Retouching Etching in negative Printing through screens Printing on rough paper Wetting the lens
Alfred Stieglitz and Clarence White, The Torso, 1907Platinum print
Alfred Stieglitz, Katherine and Elizabeth Stieglitz, 1907 - Autochrome
Edward Steichen, Charlotte Spaulding, ca. 1908Autochrome
Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight, 1904Photogravure
Stieglitz Dethrones Käsebier; Celebrates Brigman
A reformed feminine emblem Embodies the nudes of Matisse, Picasso
and Cézanne Rhythmic, flowing form Highly manipulated negatives Liberated female body
Anne Brigman, The Breeze, Dawn 1909-10
Anne Brigman, Platinum Prints
The Dying Cedar, 1906 Via Dolorosa, 1911-1912
SUMMARY
Stieglitz always investigating the medium Always looking for perfection and morphing to
achieve his new ideal The Stieglitz Circle played a critical role in the
interchange between painting and photography during the early years of the twentieth century.
KAY SWINDELL
The New Modernism – break from Photo Secession
Freedom from past perimeters, styles, labels Removing the veil from human sexuality and
supporting in philosophy and art a “throwing off” of societal roles and gender limitations
Embracing feelings, ideas, and sensations in all arts and through abstract and cubist art.
Various sources included Kandinsky, Asian art principles, personal authenticity, music, dance
Deconstructing the nude
Stieglitz, writing to Brigman in 1918-9 used the term “no fuzzyism”
Earlier nudes were Venus-like; in keeping with late 19th C masked human sexuality
With the 1918-19 O’K series, Stieglitz concentrated on individual shapes
Liberated from the past to achieve artistic creativity
Alfred Stieglitz, Spring Showers, New York, Negative, 1900/01. Photogravure
Pablo Picasso, Standing Female Nude, 1910Half-tone reproduction
Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1919 Palladium
Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, 1918Photograph (gelatin silver print)
O’Keeffe’s Path to Modernism
Application of Dow’s principles of composition Japanese prints, Nocturnes of Whistler, children’s art Witnessing Marin’s topsy-turvy Woolworth Bldg. illustrating
a “moving of me” (Marin’s words) and referring to Brigman photographs, and later, Stieglitz’s O’Keeffe nudes.
Isadora Duncan performing a new, free, undulating modern dance style in flowing blues
Bakst’s costume designs for Ballet Russe inspired O’Keeffe “spiral” vocabulary in abstracted works from nature as well as her brilliant color combinations.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Untitled (Woman by Window), 1907-08
Georgia O’Keeffe, Yellow House, 1917
Abraham Walkowitz, Isadora Duncan, ca. 1910
Léon Bakst, Design for the Faun from the Prélude à ‘L’après-midi d’un faune,’ 1912
Georgia O’Keeffe, Pansy Black Pansy & Forget-Me-Nots, 1926
Georgia O’Keeffe, L.K. White Calla and Roses1926
Alfred Stieglitz: In Search of Truth
Focus: soft and fuzzy or clean and straight
His modernism: ‘dematerialized vision’ to ‘embodied sensation’
Never let go of terms spirit and soul
THANK YOU!