Alfred Stieglitz

Birth

Jan. 1, 1864 (Hoboken, New Jersey)
Death

Jul. 13, 1946 (New York, New York)

Artist, gallerist, and publisher, Stieglitz was one of the most important American art figures of the early 20th century. An accomplished photographer in his own right, Stieglitz used the financial resources of his family to support artists and disseminate their work through clubs, galleries, and periodicals. Early on he was enthusiastic about pictorialist photographers like Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence H. White, and Karl Struss, but he eventually shifted his support to modernist approaches by artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, and Paul Strand.

The Carter collection includes representative work across Stieglitz’s photographic career, from early masterpieces like Sun Rays—Paula, Berlin through intimate portraits of his future wife O’Keeffe to experiments with abstraction called “Equivalents” and stark urban visions like From the Shelton, Looking West. The Museum also holds complete sets of all three of his important periodicals: Camera Notes (1897–1903), Camera Work (1903–17), and 291 (1915–16).