Few individuals have exerted as strong an influence on 20th-century American art and culture as the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz.
Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1864 during the Civil War, Stieglitz lived until 1946. He began to take photographs while a student in Berlin in the 1880s and studied with the renowned photochemist Hermann Wilhelm Vogel. On his return to the United States in 1890, he began to advocate that photography should be treated as an art. He wrote many articles arguing his cause, edited the periodicals Camera Notes (1897–1902) and Camera Work (1903–1917), and in 1902 formed the Photo-Secession, an organization of photographers committed to establishing the artistic merit of photography.
Stieglitz photographed New York for more than 25 years, portraying its streets, parks, and newly emerging skyscrapers; its horse-drawn carriages, trolleys, trains, and ferry boats; as well as some of its people. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, he also focused his camera on the landscape around his summer home in Lake George, New York.
In 1918 Stieglitz became consumed with photographing his future wife, the artist Georgia O’Keeffe. For many years he had wanted to make an extended photographic portrait — he called it a composite portrait — in which he would study one person over a long period. Over the next 19 years, he made more than 330 finished portraits of her. Beginning in 1922 and continuing throughout the 1920s, he also became preoccupied with another subject, clouds, making more than 300 finished studies of them.
Photography was always of central importance to Stieglitz: not only was it the medium he employed to express himself, but, more fundamentally, it was the touchstone he used to evaluate all art. Just as it is apparent today that computers and digital technology will dominate not only our lives but also our thinking in this century, so too did Stieglitz realize, long before many of his contemporaries, that photography would be a major cultural force in the 20th century. Fascinated with what he called “the idea of photography,” Stieglitz foresaw that it would revolutionize all aspects of the way we learn and communicate and that it would profoundly alter all of the arts.
Stieglitz’s own photographs were central to his understanding of the medium: they were the instruments he used to plumb both its expressive potential and its relationship to the other arts. When he began to photograph in the early 1880s, the medium was barely 40 years old. Complicated and cumbersome and employed primarily by professionals, photography was seen by most as an objective tool and utilized for its descriptive and recording capabilities.
By the time ill health forced Stieglitz to stop photographing in 1937, photography and the public’s perception of it had changed dramatically, thanks in large part to his efforts. Through the publications he edited, including Camera Notes, Camera Work, and 291; through the exhibitions he organized; and through his own lucid and insightful photographs, Stieglitz had conclusively demonstrated the expressive power of the medium.
Find original Alfred Stieglitz photography on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by PDNB Gallery)
Alfred Stieglitz Photogravure "City of Ambition, " 1910, New York Image
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Alfred Stieglitz (American, Hoboken, New Jersey 1864–1946 New York) "City of Ambition" from Camera Work Number 36 (1910) Photogravure on Japanese tissue mounted on paper, as issued. ...
Paper
Alfred Stieglitz - The Key Set Volume I & II
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in CA, CA
Alfred Stieglitz, The Key, Set Volume I & II Published by National Gallery of Art/Harry N. Abrams, New York, 2002 Few individuals have exerted as profound an influence on 20th-...
Paper
$63,750Sale Price|25% Off
Equivalents
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
Alfred Stieglitz made the Equivalents cloud studies between 1925 and 1934. They are often recognized as the first photographs free of literal subject matter and considered some of th...
Silver Gelatin
1984 Photo original poster by Stieglitz - Paris
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in PARIS, FR
In Paris, the Month of Photography is an important artistic event dedicated to photography. This event has been organized since the 1980s and mobilizes many cultural institutions suc...
Paper
The Ferry Boat by Alfred Stieglitz, 1910, Photogravure, Photography
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Denton, TX
The Ferry Boat by Alfred Stieglitz is a photogravure on tissue. The photograph depicts a ferry boat on the water with a crowd of people on the lower level o...
Photogravure
$725 / set
H 12 in W 9 in D 4 in
Sotheby's: Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra, 6 Volume Set
Located in valatie, NY
This is the original six volume set by Sotheby's for the auction of the collections of Lily and Edmond Safra in October 2011. Volumes 1-3 are in ...
Paper
1850 Two-Volume Set of Lord Byron's Illustrated Works
By William Anderson, Lord Byron
Located in Chapel Hill, NC
1850 two volume set of Byron's Works, printed by A. Fullerton, Edinburgh. Scarlet Morocco leather & gilt bound set filled with superb steel engravings of Italy, etc. Lord Byron's hom...
Leather, Paper
Antique National Cashier Register With the Key
By National Cash Register Co.
Located in Brea, CA
Antique national cashier register R313 with a key , the drawer can open , there is a key , it is a beautiful piece .
Brass
Jar Paris Volume I-II Book Collection
Located in New York, NY
"The Cartier of our time." —Christies. "Exquisitely refined creations. Rosenthal made jewellery modern but infused it with the timelessness of perfection." —Telegraph. "The Faberge´ of our time." —Diane von Furstenberg. Volume I showcases a selection of the jewels made since the shop's founding in 1978 up to "The Jewels of JAR - Paris" exhibition, held at Somerset House in London (November 2002 - January 2003.) Volume II presents a selection of works created between 2002 and up to JAR's exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2014. About JAR Since opening JAR in 1978, with the help of his Swiss friend Pierre Jeannet, Joel Arthur Rosenthal, has become one of the world's most sought after jewellery designers. A native New Yorker, Rosenthal moved to Paris after graduating from Harvard and has lived in the city for most of his adult life. He experimented in scriptwriting and then needlepoint, opening a shop where he experimented with unusually coloured yarns. It's clientele included designers from Herme`s and Valentino. Rosenthal was one day asked if he could design a mount for a gemstone, setting his career in a new direction. His signature includes setting gems in pave arrangements, so finely wrought as to be virtually invisible. Rosenthal uses...
Paper
$2,796Sale Price|20% Off
H 11.5 in W 7.75 in
Robert Mapplethorpe, Hand in Fire, from A Season in Hell, 1986 (after)
By Robert Mapplethorpe
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite photogravure after Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989), titled Hand in Fire, from the folio A Season in Hell, originates from the 1986 edition published by The Limited Edi...
Photogravure
$2,796Sale Price|20% Off
H 11.5 in W 7.75 in
Robert Mapplethorpe, Back View of Male Nude, from A Season in Hell, 1986 (after)
By Robert Mapplethorpe
Located in Southampton, NY
This exquisite photogravure after Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989), titled Back View of Male Nude, from the folio A Season in Hell, originates from the 1986 edition published by The L...
Photogravure
Hasegawa Publishing – Sword and Blossom Poems, Volume II
Located in Hamburg, DE
Immerse yourself in the rich cultural tapestry of ancient Japanese poetry with "Sword and Blossom Poems, Volume II" from Hasegawa Publishing. This exquisite book presents a captivati...
Paper
$850
H 17.6 in W 13 in
French Contemporary Collotype Photograph Black White Photo Andre Naggar
By Andre Naggar
Located in Surfside, FL
Photos pictured of information cards after the images of the black and white photos are not included. La Chute D'Icare (The Fall of Icarus) is a original, black and white photograp...
Photogravure
Storefront
By Brett Weston
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This vintage silver gelatin print is signed and dated in pencil mount recto, and again mount verso. Printed in 1961 for inclusion in "Fifteen Photographs" (edition of 50). Mounted to...
Silver Gelatin
Frosted Window
By Paul Caponigro
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This vintage silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount. This rare exhibition print in glossy paper (later prints of this image from Portfolio II were made on...
Silver Gelatin
Sotheby's: The Garbisch Collection, Volume Two, 1st Ed
Located in valatie, NY
Sotheby's: The Garbisch Collection, Vol. 2, May 17, 1980, important French furniture, European porcelain Vertu, and rugs. First edition hardcover with dust jacket. 588 lots of import...
Paper
$3,500
H 9.63 in W 6.5 in D 4.13 in
Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, First Edition, Two-Volume Set, 1888
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
Sheridan, Philip Henry. Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, General United States Army. New York: Charles L. Webster & Company, 1888. First Edition. Two Volumes. Rebound in green quar...
Leather, Paper
Sold
H 38 in W 14.5 in D 0.1 in
1989 Alfred Stieglitz 'Spring Showers' Photography USA Offset Lithograph
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 38 x 14.5 inches ( 96.52 x 36.83 cm ) Image Size: 31.75 x 12.5 inches ( 80.645 x 31.75 cm ) Framed: No Condition: B: Very Good Condition, with signs of handling or age...
Offset
Sold
H 7.88 in W 11 in D 0.2 in
Alfred Stieglitz Photogravure "Hand of Man, " 1902 - Atmospheric Train Subject
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Alfred Stieglitz (American, Hoboken, New Jersey 1864–1946 New York) "The Hand of Man" from Camera Work Number 36 (1902) Photogravure on Japanese tiss...
Paper
Sold
H 25 in W 22 in D 3 in
Alfred Steiglitz Signed Original Vintage Toned Gelatin Silver Print, circa 1900
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Kingston, NY
Alfred Steiglitz signed original vintage toned gelatin silver photographic print, circa 1900. Steiglitz did a series of night images and was known...
Wood, Paper
CITY OF AMBITION
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Santa Monica, CA
ALFRED STIEGLITZ (1864 – 1946) CITY OF AMBITION, 1910 Photogravure from Camera Work No. 36 On thin paper. Image 8 ¾ x 6 5/8”. Full sheet 11 ½ x 7 7/8”...
Photogravure
THE FERRY BOAT
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Santa Monica, CA
ALFRED STIEGLITZ (1864 – 1946) THE FERRY BOAT, 1911 Photogravure, plate 5 from Camera Work, No 36 On thin paper. Image 8 ¼”x...
Photogravure
Sold
H 14.25 in W 11 in D 0.75 in
“Georgia O'Keeffe” A Portrait by Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe
By Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe
Located in valatie, NY
Georgia O'Keeffe, a portrait by Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe. The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Viking Press, 1978. First edition hardcover with dust...
Paper
Two Towers, New York
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in New York, NY
7.75 x 6.25 inch Camera Work photogravure
Photogravure
The Flat-Iron
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Denton, TX
Photogravure from Camera Work Photogravure on tissue Paper size: 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. Image size: 6 3/4 x 3 3/8 in.
Photogravure
Snapshot - In the New York Central Yards
By Alfred Stieglitz
Located in Fairlawn, OH
As published in Camera Work, Vol. 20:45 (1907)