Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Rosenfeld: An Aesthetics of intimacy

Abstract

While the period 1917 to 1925 may not be the best known phase of Alfred Stieglitz's career, these years were truly reformative for him and his circle. At that time Stieglitz did nothing less than stage his own comeback after the closing ofhis first and pioneering art gallery, ‘291’, in 1917. Although he was without a gallery of his own during this eight-year period, Stieglitz continued to be an active presence in the New York art world. In addition to pursuing his own innovative work in photography, Stieglitz maintained his involvement with a number of New York art galleries where he was instrumental in promoting a select but important group of American modernists, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and John Marin. Stieglitz played a central role in establishing their reputations as he aggressively marketed their works among both private and institutional collectors.