Photo secession

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Photo-Secession emblem

The Photo-Secession was an American club that promoted photography as a means of artistic expression.

founding

In 1902 the club was founded in New York City by Edward Steichen , Frank Eugene and Alfred Stieglitz , who remained the centerpiece and thought leader. Almost all of the members had previously been members of the Camera Club of New York and adherents of pictorialism . You could only become a member by prior invitation.

The name alludes to the European avant-garde movements, which was intended to underline the artistic standards of the photographers involved. The model was, among other things, the British photographer-artist association Linked Ring , which pursued the same goal.

history

The association published a magazine from 1903 to 1917, Camera Work , with Stieglitz as editor and editor. Between 1902 and 1909 the association's own circular The Photo-Secession also appeared , for which Alfred Stieglitz also acted as editor. In the own gallery 291 (after its address: 291 Fifth Avenue) in New York City exhibitions were organized from 1905, first with photographs of the members, later more and more also contemporary painting, in order to show the position of photography among the arts. The first solo exhibitions on American soil by Rodin , Matisse (1908), Henri Rousseau (1910), Cézanne , Picasso (1911), Picabia (1913) and Brâncuși (1914) took place in 291 . Stieglitz operated the gallery until 1917 when the building was demolished.

The photo works sent in by Stieglitz for the Photo Secession for the World Exhibition of Applied Arts in Turin in 1902, there for the "International Exhibition of Art Photography", were the only ones sent by King Victor Emmanuel III. self-awarded Grand Prix and made the American tendencies known to a wider European audience.

The international photography exhibition organized by the Photo-Secession in 1910 at the Albright Art Gallery (later: Albright-Knox Art Gallery ) in Buffalo , New York with over 500 photographic works caused a sensation at the time and spread the new idea of ​​photography as an art form .

After photography was established as an art form and thus the goal was achieved, many members turned away from the association (since around 1910) until it dissolved informally.

Members (selection)

literature

swell

  1. a b Encyclopedia Britannica
  2. ^ Esposizione Internazionale di Fotografia Artistica Torino 1902: Catalogo Ufficiale. Torino 1902.
  3. ^ Reprint of the letter to Stieglitz dated February 19, 1903. In: Rossana Bossaglia (ed.): Torino 1902: le arti decorative internazionali del nuovo secolo. Fabbri, Milano 1994, ISBN 88-450-4776-8 , p. 98