Stieglitz and the Changing Face of Photography

Alfred Stieglitz: The Changing Face of Photography

Alfred Stieglitz is considered to be one of the primary early definers of the nature of photographic art. His life and career spanned from 1864 to 1946, encompassing the tail end of the Civil War through World War II. "Stieglitz witnessed New York transform from a sleeping giant of cobblestone streets and horse-drawn trolleys to a vibrant symbol of the modern metropolis, with soaring skyscrapers becoming visible emblems of a new age" (American Masters: Alfred Stieglitz). Although photography was well-established as an art form in the 19th century, Stieglitz was one of the first to defend the unique gifts of photography as an expressive medium in and of its own right. When he became the editor of Camera Notes, the journal of the Camera Club of New York, Stieglitz used the platform provided by this "association of amateur photography enthusiasts" to make a claim for the greatness of photography on par with sculpture and painting (Hostetler).

Early attempts at artistic photography attempted to mimic the Impressionists. However, with the rise of 20th century Modernism, "photography was naturally suited to representing the fast-paced cacophony that increasingly defined modern life, and attempting to cloak the medium's natural strengths by heavily manipulating the final print fell out of favor" (Hostetler). Stieglitz's work portrayed a fragmentary view of modern life, where photographs merely sought to give a 'version' of the subject in an intensely personal way, versus an objective ideal of the truth. He also had an unabashedly personal focus in his approach to his art. When his daughter was born to his first wife 1898, Stieglitz had the then-unique idea of "creating a photographic journal of her life" in the form of a series of portraits throughout her phases of growing up and becoming a woman ("Portraits"). These portraits were both intensely personal and works of art.

The most famous Stieglitz subject was the photographer's second wife Georgia O'Keeffe. Stieglitz photographed O'Keeffe hundreds of time. His "refusal to encapsulate her personality into a single image was consistent with several modernist ideas: the idea of the fragmented sense of self, brought about by the rapid pace of modern life; the idea that a personality, like the outside world, is constantly changing, and may be interrupted but not halted by the intervention of the camera; and, finally, the realization that truth in the modern world is relative and that photographs are as much an expression of the photographer's feelings for the subject as they are a reflection of the subject depicted" (Hostetler). Unlike some later photographers of 'celebrities,' Stieglitz did not try to create a singular, iconic image of his wife. Some of his images of O'Keeffe show her in repose; others depict her with her hat on and engaging with the camera face-to-face; still others show her half-nude and sensuous. All of these images, Stieglitz suggested, were part of her unique personality. However, O'Keeffe always insisted that these works were his version of her, not an attempt to render her own character in any defining way: that was left to her own creations of her own art. "Though the title of the series, Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait, suggests he was attempting to capture aspects of his subject, O'Keeffe said in 1978 that in these pictures 'he was always photographing himself'" ("Portraits").

Still, in contrast to the conventional method of rendering the artist's subject, particularly the female subject, O'Keeffe is shown in her own right in the portraits as an equal. Stieglitz merely presents versions of her rather than claims to provide a definitive statement of her personality and her life. He is open about his own subjectivity and his presence as a crafting intelligence behind the works rather than makes a claim about hers. "Stieglitz called his ongoing studies of O'Keeffe a 'composite portrait,' meaning one that developed over time, piece by piece" (Georgia O'Keeffe -- Hands). Stieglitz acknowledge the impossibility of providing a complete 'read' upon O'Keeffe and therefore tried to merely show versions of her own perceived identity as a woman and artist.

For example, Stieglitz crafted a series of portraits which simply showed O'Keeffe's hands. The hands were the most important part of the anatomy she possessed, the hands which were instrumental in creating her masterpieces. Stieglitz gave them just as much attention as the more sexualized parts of her anatomy. Although admittedly inspired by the sculptures of Rodin and the fragments found in classical antiquity, "Stieglitz cultivated here above all the sense of photography as fragmentary, a partial viewing that lends itself to juxtaposition and serial development" (Georgia O'Keeffe -- Hands). Stieglitz photographed O'Keeffe while she was actively engaged in the crafting of her own artwork, such as in front of her No. 15 Special charcoal. "Enamored of her expressive hands and eager for her touch, he poses her toying with a button and then isolates her fingers against a dark background to focus on their shape" ("Portraits"). He also showed her as a headless, fragmentary nude, again in line with the found, destroyed art of classical antiquity but by locating this as one of a longer series, the suggestion was this status as a physical subject was only part of the many qualities embodied by O'Keeffe.

O'Keeffe and Stieglitz eventually parted company in terms of the emphasis they placed on different aspects of their artwork. Stieglitz's works were always resolutely urban, showing a landscape with a focus upon the streets and images of New York City. O'Keeffe grew more and more enamored with the American West. Her most famous works depict the skulls of abandoned animals in that setting. After her first trip home from New Mexico even Stieglitz's portraits "show O'Keeffe with a new symbol of independence, the Model T Ford, and later with the animal bones she had brought back from the desert" ("Portraits").

O'Keeffe was not the only subject Stieglitz created a series of portraits of: Dorothy Norman, a young woman Stieglitz encountered, was also a central subject. The portraits of Norman often have a much more classical texture than those of O'Keeffe, although Stieglitz also created a series of fragmented images of the young woman, showing her as a disembodied head in one image and a pair of hands in another. "His early portraits of her are stark, restrained, and elegant, emphasizing her youthful face and smoldering dark eyes" ("Portraits"). Photographing Norman so extensively did not immediately mark the end of his relationship with O'Keeffe although a distinct difference is also seen in his photographing of his wife during his fascination with Norman, including a more distanced quality in his portraits of O'Keeffe.