“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!