Stieglitz: A Biography - Hardcover

Sue Davidson Lowe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0704324083 ISBN 13: 9780704324084

Publisher: Quartet Books, 1984

Synopsis

"Stieglitz is as scholarly a production as anyone could wish, crammed with facts and trailing informative appendixes. It is also a loving and occasionally exasperated look at a contentious relative and the intimate circumstances that formed him." --Time A tireless exponent of the avant-garde and of photography as a fine art, as well as a consummate photographer in his own right, Alfred Stieglitz was both the embodiment of rebellious New York modernism and an oddly domestic man who retained a lifelong attachment to his family's country estate. In Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography, author Sue Davidson Lowe, Stieglitz's grand-neice, presents the man in all of his complexity, tracing his background and revealing the interplay between his character and his multifaceted career. She offers new insight into Stieglitz's relationships with artists such as Marin, Hartley, Dove, Steichen, and O'Keefe; his pioneering promotion of Europe's most radical artists through the Photo-Secession group and the 291 gallery; and his creation of some of our century's most enduring photographic images. Gracefully weaving personal reminiscence and verifiable fact as she lucidly interweaves Stieglitz's career with his personal life, Lowe presents a uniquely compelling and intimate portrait of a hugely influential, hugely enigmatic American artist.

About this title

About the Author:

Perhaps no other person has done as much to legitimize the art of photography as did Alfred Stieglitz. Born in 1864 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Stieglitz studied mechanical engineering in Berlin but was always drawn to taking pictures. He won the first of his 150 photography prizes at age 24 in a British competition judged by P.H. Emerson. Returning to New York in 1889, Stieglitz began writing on photography and exhibiting his own work, the most celebrated of which include The Terminal (1893) and The Steerage (1907). In 1902, Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession group and opened his first gallery, 291, where he exhibited American photographers of the Pictorialist movement, and painters and sculptors including Matisse, Braque, Rodin, and Georgia O'Keeffe, whom he married in 1924. That same year he began publishing the quarterly Camera Work. Stieglitz ran two other art spaces, the Intimate Gallery and An American Place, and continued to photograph until his death in 1946, leaving behind hundreds of studies of O'Keeffe, photographs of Lake George, and New York City views.

Review:

"A portrait-in-the-round of the pioneer American photographer...Affectionate but measured." -- New Yorker

"Contains a trove of choice information." -- Boston Globe

"Fascinating." -- Newsweek

"Lowe has written a book that finally captures the personality of Alfred Stieglitz." -- Washington Post Book World

About this edition

• Publisher: Quartet Books
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0704324083
• ISBN 13: 9780704324084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 426