Alfred Stieglitz: an American seer 1st edition by Norman, Dorothy (1973) Hardcover
Category: Books
Alfred Stieglitz: an American seer 1st edition by Norman, Dorothy (1973) Hardcover Details
Reviews
I disagree with the 1 Star rating. What I wanted from this book, I got. Stieglitz was important not just because of his photography, but how he introduced the world to unknown but great artists of his time, furthered American art, and help photography to be accepted as a 'fine art' in the world. We learn about The Camera Club of NY, the Photo-Secession and its gallery, (known as '291' for it's 5th Ave address), Camera Works and many off-shoots of these. We learn about Edward Steichen, Georgia O'Keeffe and many other emerging modern art painters and patrons of the time. The author gives us an intimate view of how an unknown artist would first come into the gallery after 'being told to show your work to Steichen' by someone, and you are a fly on the wall of the encounter as Steichen reviews the artist's work. The book IS written by his niece, so there is more of a personal touch rather than scientific biographical approach, which is very enjoyable, but it does sugar-coat a little (but not discounting completely) his tendency to be a 'stick in the mud.'