In 1907, he created the gallery “291” (based on the house number on Fifth Avenue), where he exhibited works by Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Rousseau next to photographs.

Grew up in Manhattan. In 1881 his father, a German Jew, returned to Germany with his family. Since 1882, Alfred studied at the Technical High School in Berlin, became interested in photography, and traveled.

Returning to the USA, he published magazines on photography, and in 1902 he organized a photography exhibition at the National Art Club of New York, which was a great success. He was the first photographer whose works were included in the collections of leading US museums and began to be exhibited along with paintings by famous artists.

Created and led the group Photo-secession, which included Edward Steichen, Clarence White, Alvin Langdon Coburn. From 1905 to 1917 he was director of a photo gallery. 291 on 5th Avenue, and then several more photo galleries. He introduced the latest European art to the American public, known for its conservative tastes - the paintings of Cezanne, Matisse, Braque, Picasso, Duchamp, etc. According to Britannica, Stieglitz “almost single-handedly pushed his country into the world of art of the 20th century.”

Since 1916 he worked in constant contact with Georgia O'Keeffe, in 1924 they became husband and wife. O'Keeffe created about 300 photographs. He was friends and collaborated with Ansel Adams. He left the photograph in 1937 due to severe heart disease.

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I would like to draw your attention to the most popular misconception about photography - the term “professional” is used for photos that are generally considered successful, the term “amateur” is used for unsuccessful ones. But almost all great photographs are made - and always have been taken - by those who pursued photography in the name of love - and certainly not in the name of profit. The term “lover” presupposes a person working in the name of love, so the fallacy of the generally accepted classification is obvious.

Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz was born on January 1, 1864 in Hoboken, New Jersey, into a wealthy Jewish family of immigrants from Germany. At the age of 11, he loved to watch the work of a photographer in a local photo studio and watched with interest the miracles taking place in the laboratory. One day he noticed a photographer retouching a negative.

“I’m trying to make the image look more natural,” the photographer explained the purpose of his manipulations.

If I were you, I wouldn’t do this,” the boy said after thinking.

Alfred's parents wanted to give their children a good European education and returned to Germany in 1881. In Berlin, Alfred entered the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Higher Technical School. Soon, artistic inclinations awoke in the young man, he discovered painting and literature, and met avant-garde artists and writers. In 1883, while walking around Berlin, he noticed a camera in a store window: “I bought it, brought it to my room and since then have practically never parted with it. She charmed me, at first it was a hobby for me, then a passion,” he later recalled. For some time he studied under the guidance of photochemist professor Hermann William Vogel, but his main teacher was the world around him.

The young man traveled a lot around Europe, almost never leaving his camera, photographing urban and natural landscapes, peasants, fishermen, and so on and so forth. It was a time of experimentation, he was attracted by the edge of the “technically possible”: one day he took a photograph of a car standing in a dark basement, illuminated by one dim light bulb. The exposition lasted 24 hours! In 1887, Stieglitz was awarded an award at an amateur photographer's competition in London - he received a silver medal from the hands of Peter Henry Emerson, author of the famous book Naturalistic Photography for Students of Art.

Returning to New York in 1890, Stieglitz became a partner in the Photochrome Engraving Company. But his main passion was photography, and it reciprocated with him - until the beginning of the 20th century, he received more than 150 (!) awards and medals at various competitions and exhibitions in his homeland and far beyond its borders. Not only undoubted talent, but also simply amazing performance was the reason for such success. “You should choose a place and then carefully study the lines and lighting,” Stieglitz taught, “Then watch the passing figures and wait for the moment when everything is balanced, that is, when your eye is satisfied. This often means waiting for hours. My photograph “Fifth Avenue in Winter” is the result of standing in a snowstorm for three hours on February 22, 1893, waiting for the right moment.” Another time he talked about this photo in more detail: “The prospect of the street looked very promising... But there was no plot, no drama. Three hours later, a horse-drawn horse appeared on the street, making its way through the snowstorm and flying straight at me. The driver whipped the horses on the sides. This was what I was waiting for." He often returned to the same object for weeks and even months, waiting... he himself did not know what exactly he was waiting for.

Why do you keep renting this building? - his father once asked.

I’m waiting for the moment when it moves towards me,” the photographer replied. - This is not a building, this is an image of America. And I want to catch it.

On the other hand, he did not try to look for any exotic nature, preferring to “explore the researched”: “I find subjects sixty yards from my door,” he said.

From the very beginning of his career as a photographer, Stieglitz faced disdain for photography from the artistic elite: “The artists to whom I showed my early photographs said they were jealous of me; that my photographs are better than their paintings, but, unfortunately, photography is not art. “I couldn’t understand how you can simultaneously admire a work and reject it as not made by hands, how you can put your own works higher only on the basis that they are made by hand,” Stieglitz was indignant. He could not come to terms with this state of affairs: “Then I began to fight... for the recognition of photography as a new means of self-expression, so that it would have equal rights with any other forms of artistic creativity.”

In 1893, Stieglitz became editor of the magazine American Amateur Photographer, but soon began to have problems with his colleagues: his managerial style turned out to be too authoritarian. In 1896, he was forced to leave his editorial chair and began working on a little-known publication called Camera Notes, which was published under the auspices of the amateur photographers' society, The Camera Club of New York. Neither the photographers nor most of the authors of the texts received money for their work, but despite the extreme savings, the magazine was still unprofitable: often Stieglitz - fortunately he was quite financially independent - had to report the missing funds from his own pocket. But he received an excellent platform for popularizing his ideas, for promoting photographs of himself and his friends.

In early 1902, National Arts Club director Charles De Kay asked Stieglitz to organize an exhibition of contemporary American photography. Heated debate broke out among the club members about which photographer should participate in the exhibition. Unable to achieve the support of the majority, Stiglitz resorted to a trick: he founded an initiative group from his supporters, which he entrusted with the selection of photographs. The group, which went down in photographic history under the name “Photo-Secession,” was founded on February 17, 1902, two weeks before the exhibition.

During the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Gertrude Casebier asked:

What is Photo-Secession? Can I consider myself a Photo-Secessionist?

Do you feel like a member of the club? - Stiglitz answered the question with a question.

Yes,” answered Gertrude.

Well, that’s more than enough,” Stiglitz assured her.

However, when Charles Berg, several of whose photographs were included in the exhibition, asked the same question, Stieglitz refused him in an authoritarian, not to say rude, manner. It soon became clear to everyone that the decision to “be or not to be” a particular photographer as a member of the “Photo-Secession” was made by Stieglitz personally and was not subject to discussion.

The main members of the club, in some sense the favorites of its founder and permanent chairman, were Edward Steichen, Clarence White, Gertrude Casebier, Frank Eugene, Frederick Holland Day and, somewhat later, Alvin Langdon Coburn. The official publication of the group for the next 14 years was the Camera Work magazine.

In 1905, Stieglitz founded the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, which became known as Gallery 291. It owes its strange name to its address: the gallery was located at 291 Fifth Avenue. Along with photographs, “Gallery 291” exhibited paintings by contemporary artists: Matisse, Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Picasso, Braque, Rodin, O'Keeffe... These exhibitions were not always successful with art criticism and the general public: for example, in 1908 year, the Matisse exhibition caused attacks from critics and protest from his comrades in the Camera Club. The offended Stiglitz even left the club membership and no amount of persuasion could force him to return.

In 1911, the exhibition and sale of Picasso’s works ended in complete failure: “I sold one drawing that he made as a twelve-year-old boy, the second I bought myself,” Stieglitz wrote bitterly, “I was ashamed of America when I returned all the works to Picasso . I sold them for 20-30 dollars per item. The entire collection could be purchased for $2,000. I suggested it to the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He saw nothing in Picasso's work and said that such crazy things would never be accepted by America."

But the gallery was very popular among creative youth. In the fall of 1908, an exhibition of Rodin's drawings took place there. "All our teachers said: 'Just in case, go to the exhibition. Maybe there's something in it, maybe there's nothing. But you shouldn't miss it,'" recalled Georgia O'Keefe, at that sometimes a student at Columbia College, - “The curator of the exhibition was a man whose hair, eyebrows and mustache grew in different directions and stood straight up. He was very angry, and I avoided him. But the drawings struck me both with their frankness. that they were not made at all the way I was taught.”

A few years after this event, Stieglitz exhibited the works of Georgia O'Keeffe herself, while forgetting to ask permission from the author. When she found out about this, she immediately went to the studio:

Who gave you permission to exhibit my work? - the girl asked indignantly.

“Nobody,” Stiglitz honestly admitted, putting on his pince-nez.

“I, Georgia O’Keefe,” she screamed, “and I demand that you remove all this from the exhibition.”

“You can’t do that,” he replied calmly. - Just like they couldn’t kill their own child.

“But I demand,” she repeated stubbornly and suddenly laughed.

Then I demand lunch,” Stiglitz laughed in turn.

This meeting became the beginning of cooperation, friendship, love, which lasted until the death of the master. Soon his wife Emmeline caught her husband running around naked Georgia with a camera in his hands and, without thinking twice, kicked them both out of the house. Soon the couple separated; Having lost his unloved wife, Stiglitz also lost her fortune, from which his numerous projects were mainly financed. At the beginning of 1917, he was forced to close his favorite brainchild, Gallery 291. Of course, he was far from asking for alms, but there was no more money to support artists. “And rightly so,” Georgia commented philosophically, “when artists are hungry, they write better.”

Stieglitz and O'Keeffe legalized their relationship in 1924. They had a large (24 years) age difference and this immediately affected their relationship. O'Keeffe fell in love with Stieglitz's students and friends: first with the young talented photographer Paul Strand, who was three years her junior, later became Ansel Adams, who was the most popular landscape photographer in America at the time. She left and came, lived as she wanted and with whomever she wanted, but always came back. One of her most scandalous adventures was an affair with... the wife of Paul Strand in the late 1920s, who, by the way, several years earlier was the mistress of Stieglitz himself. It’s not easy to understand all these twists and turns - and is it worth it?

But one more adventure in Stieglitz’s life is worth mentioning: in 1927, he had a twenty-two-year-old student, and part-time model and lover, Dorothy Norman, who later wrote a book about her teacher. The no longer young photographer regained his interest in both life and art, he again did not part with the camera, photographing not only the beautiful body of his last lover, but also his beloved city. Of course, he was no longer running through the streets with a camera, he was trying to capture cityscapes from the window of his house or studio. According to a number of researchers of his work, the New York of the late Stieglitz is much brighter and more expressive than in his early works.

Georgia O'Keefe had a very hard time with the separation, but she turned out to be smarter than her predecessor: she left, waited until her husband “got crazy” and, in the end, returned, but “on her own terms.”

Stieglitz's creative life in the 1920-1930s was fruitful and quite successful. He photographed a lot, his photographs enjoyed well-deserved popularity, they constantly appeared on the pages of books and photo albums, on the covers of magazines, and at exhibitions. It was Stieglitz who became the first photographer whose works were awarded museum status.

After the closure of Gallery 291, Stieglitz experienced certain difficulties in promoting his work, as well as the photographs and paintings of his students and friends. In December 1925, he opened the Intimate gallery. It was, to put it mildly, small in size - Stieglitz called it “The Room” - but over the four years of the gallery’s existence, it hosted several dozen exhibitions that were very popular. In early 1930, he opened a new gallery, An American Place, which continued to operate until his death.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Stieglitz “almost single-handedly propelled his country into the world of 20th-century art.” And he did this with a harsh hand, harshly dealing with those who dared to contradict him. He did not make concessions even for his “favorites”: for example, he harshly condemned Edward Steichen for “betraying art for the sake of commerce.” Stiglitz himself suffered from this more than others, but he could not help himself. “He could not come to terms with the fact that his students were gradually leaving him, that they were finding their own way, he always believed that they were betraying him. This was the drama of his whole life. He was a terrible owner. Without realizing it,” wrote the photographer’s granddaughter, Sue Davidson Lowe, author of Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography. Even with his best friends, he managed to ruin relationships: “The day I walked into Gallery 291 was the greatest day of my life...” wrote Paul Strand, “But the day I walked out of An American Place" was just as great. It was as if I had stepped out into the fresh air, freed myself from everything that had become, at least for me, secondary, immoral, and meaningless.”

Perhaps, as punishment for his dictatorial habits, fate prepared an unpleasant surprise for Stieglitz - the photographer, accustomed to command, spent the last years of his life in complete dependence on his wife. This happened after he suffered a heart attack in early 1938, followed by others - each of which left the great man more and more weak. Georgia was not slow to take the reins into her own hands: “She rented a penthouse, painted the entire room white, did not allow curtains to be hung on the windows and decorated the walls only with her works,” wrote Benita Eisler in the book “O" Keefe and Stieglitz: An American romance" (“O" Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance”) - “She gave the concierge a list of guests who were allowed into the house, and the name of a woman who should never be allowed in - Dorothy Norman. Stiglitz was too weak to object. Full of anger and bitterness when she commanded in the house, he plunged into prostration when she left. Financially, he was entirely dependent on her, which was unbearable for him. Architect Claude Bragdon said that whenever he called, Stieglitz was always alone and depressed. He wanted to die."

When Stiglitz had another (last, as it turned out) heart attack in the summer of 1946, Georgia was away. Returning, she hurried to the hospital: he was still alive, but unconscious; Dorothy Norman sat next to his bed. Misfortune did not suit them: Georgia kicked out her young rival and spent her last hours with her husband. Alfred Stieglitz died on July 13, 1946 without regaining consciousness. According to his will, his body was cremated, and Georgia took his ashes to Lake George near New York, where they once spent their honeymoon. She did not tell anyone about the place of his last resting place, limiting herself to the phrase: “I put him where he could hear the lake.”

After Stieglitz's death, O'Keeffe spent several years putting his legacy in order. Later, she transferred almost all of the photographer's works (more than 3 thousand photographs), as well as his correspondence (more than 50 thousand letters) to major American museums and libraries.

Alfred Stieglitz was born in 1864 in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the first son of German-Jewish immigrants Edward Stieglitz and his wife Hedwig Ann Werner. His father at that time was a lieutenant in the allied army, but later he managed to leave the army and became closely involved in raising Alfred, wanting to see him as an educated person. Subsequently, five more children appeared in the family.

In 1871, young Alfred was sent to the Charlier Institute, the best private school in New York at that time.

In 1881, Edward Stiglitz sold his company, and the whole family moved to live in Europe for several years. From 1882, Alfred studied at the Berlin Technical High School (Technische Hochschule), and it was then that he became seriously interested in photography.

In 1884, his parents returned to America, but Alfred remained in Germany until the end of the decade. At that time, Stieglitz began to collect his own library - later his collection of books on photography would become the best in Europe and the USA. He read a lot and it was then that he formulated his initial opinions about photography and aesthetics.

In 1887 he wrote his first articles, including "A Word or Two about Amateur Photography in Germany" for the new British magazine "Amateur Photographer". Stieglitz soon began writing regularly on the technical and aesthetic aspects of photography for German and English magazines.

That same year, he submitted several of his own photographs to the Amateur Photographer competition, and his work entitled "The Last Joke, Bellagio" received 1st place.

He then won a couple more prizes in the same publication, and from that time on, the name of the photographer Stieglitz began to become famous in Europe, and his works began to appear on the pages of other publications.

Despite obvious success in Europe, Stieglitz returned to America in 1890. He returned very reluctantly, but his father threatened to stop paying him a living allowance if he did not want to be with his family. By the way, shortly before this, a tragedy occurred in the family - Alfred's younger sister Flora died during childbirth.

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In general, Alfred, who was then just over 25 years old, considered American photography to be flawed, because photographs in the USA were considered only as a reflection of real life, while Stieglitz had long understood that photography is, first of all, an art. “Photography as I understood it hardly existed in the United States,” he later wrote.

However, as time has shown, his arrival in the States turned out to be a real breakthrough - the young Stieglitz managed almost single-handedly to interest the country in “new” photography, thereby opening up the world of photography art to America.

His photographs were more than innovative at that time. Stieglitz did not create reports with his photographs, he simply went beyond what was considered photography in America before him. He wandered the streets, took pictures of details that were interesting to him, printed them and... continued to remain incomprehensible.

It is noteworthy that Stieglitz never enlarged his photographs, never retouched them, and did not recognize any professional tricks to embellish reality.

He soon joined the photography community and became editor of the American Amateur Photographer magazine. It was Stieglitz who became the founder of the Photo-Secession society in 1902.

In 1905, he opened a small gallery in building 291 Fifth Avenue in New York. The works of Stieglitz, as well as other New York photographers, were exhibited in the gallery along with works by Matisse, Hartley, Weber, Rousseau, Renoir, Cézanne, Manet, Picasso, as well as Japanese prints and African wood carvings. However, the acquaintance of the American public with recognized masters was very difficult; so, for example, Stieglitz had to return all of Picasso’s works, since the artist’s exhibition failed miserably - “such” art could not be accepted by the Americans.

Over many years of work, Stieglitz collected a huge number of photographs on various topics. A special place in Alfred's collection is occupied by photographs of his wife, artist Georgia O'Keeffe. By the way, this marriage was not his first - he separated from his first wife, Emmeline Obermeyer, precisely because Georgia, who remained his friend, wife and colleague until her death.

In 1938, Alfred suffered a serious heart attack, and from that moment his health only worsened. Alfred Stieglitz died on July 13, 1946; as per his wishes, only a few close friends and family members attended his funeral.

It is known that Stieglitz, even becoming a recognized master of photography, very rarely sold his works. His collection at the time of his death in 1946 contained about 1,300 photographs, which Georgia O'Keeffe later donated to American museums.

Today, the influence of Alfred Stieglitz on the art of photography in the United States, as well as on the entire cultural life in general, cannot be underestimated. Thus, throughout his life he persistently and consistently sought recognition of photography as art, and also took on the very difficult mission of educating the artistic elite in America.

“In photography, reality is so subtle that it becomes more real than reality itself,” said the photographer.

Explained to the boy: “This is necessary so that a person looks more natural”. "I wouldn't do that"“, - the eleven-year-old boy boldly answered the old professional. Today we will talk about a man who made a huge contribution to the art of photography. Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)- master of pictorialism, thanks to whom photography became a part of art.

Many art critics say that he almost single-handedly “pushed” this art into the 20th century. Alfred Stieglitz's life's work was to teach that photography is an art just like painting. On his way, he continually encountered obstacles - financial difficulties, misunderstanding and even contempt from others - but he did not give up his goal.

Alfred was born in New Jersey into a wealthy Jewish family that emigrated from Germany. He grew up as a smart and extremely inquisitive child. One of his childhood hobbies was visiting a photo studio, where he watched the craftsmen at work. There, according to legend, that very prophetic dialogue took place about the need to retouch photographs. Subsequently, even after becoming famous throughout the world, Stieglitz never retouched photographs, believing that this could “kill” the photograph.

Since his parents were adherents of the old European educational system, it was decided that Alfred should be educated in his homeland. At the age of 17, he entered the mechanical engineering department at the Berlin Higher Technical School. But he was not very interested in his future profession. Thanks to his fairly high position in society, young Alfred had the opportunity to communicate with artists and writers. He became increasingly interested in art, and most actively in avant-garde art.

Communication with creative people led young Alfred to the point that he himself could no longer remain just an observer.

“I bought it, brought it to my room and have practically never left it since then. She charmed me, at first it was a hobby for me, then it became a passion.”, - this is what Alfred said about purchasing his first camera.

And indeed, after buying the camera, he almost never let it go. His life changed, the young man could wander around Berlin for hours, trying to capture life as it was. It was not just a hobby, but an obsession.

Having gone on a trip to Europe, Alfred did not part with his camera there, trying to take as many pictures as possible. Through the lens of his camera, the young man tried to capture all the diversity of reality that fascinated him. These were not only people from different social classes, but also urban and rural landscapes. Such passion for creativity was soon rewarded: in 1887, Alfred Stieglitz received a silver medal in London at a competition for amateur photographers. This was his first award.

Alfred's father insisted that the young man return to America, but the young man resisted his parents' will for a long time. Photography at that time was not considered an art in his homeland, while Alfred himself was convinced that it was a fresh stream in creative activity. He believed that photography had great untapped potential. In 1890, he nevertheless went to New York with the firm intention of instilling in American society the idea that photography is not just a technical means of conveying the surrounding reality. His goal was to make people look at photography as a new form of creativity.

Returning to America, Stieglitz becomes a partner in a photogravure company. But he did not forget his passion for photography. It’s not enough to just be a gifted person - Alfred’s talent was happily combined with perseverance and endurance. Sometimes, in order to take one valuable shot, the photographer had to wait for several hours for the right moment.

“You should choose a location and then carefully study the lines and lighting. Then watch the passing figures and wait for the moment when everything is balanced, that is, when your eye is satisfied. This often means waiting for hours.", he taught.

The fruit of such painstaking work was the photograph “Fifth Avenue in Winter” (Winter, Fifth Avenue). The photographer saw something unusual in the street, but something was missing to complete the picture. He had to stand in the cold for three hours before the final element finally appeared on the road - a horse-drawn horse car rushing through the snowstorm. Alfred often talked about what difficult work it is - waiting for something you don’t know about yourself.

Often creative people are asked to highlight one of their favorite works. Life magazine made this request to Alfred Stieglitz in 1899. After much hesitation, the photographer finally called the photo “Mending the Nets” (The Net Mender, 1898). On it he captured a young Dutch girl repairing a fishing net. The master himself spoke about this photo like this:

“It talks about the lives of young Dutch women, and every stitch in the mending of a fishing net is the beginning of their existence. And all this gives rise to a stream of poetic thought in those who look at her, sitting on huge and endless dunes and working with the seriousness and calmness so characteristic of these strong people.

The photo became a real story of the life of the Dutch people in those days.

As Stieglitz expected, in America he had to face disdain for photography from the artistic elite. He often heard praise from famous artists, but many emphasized that photography was not creativity. At that time, it was believed that only what was made by hand was art. But Alfred could not come to terms with this and insisted on his own: photography could stand on a par with generally recognized masterpieces.

Stieglitz wanted to show America in his works as it is. He sought to imagine not just a place, but life in it. Often, to do this, he had to return to the same place more than once.

For example, to take the famous photograph of the Flatiron Building, the photographer came to him for several weeks. The father asked him why he needed so many pictures of the same building, to which the son replied:

“It's not a building, it's an image of America. And I want to catch it"

In 1893, Alfred Stieglitz became editor of the magazine American Amateur Photographer. But the relationship with the team did not work out. His work style was considered too authoritarian by his colleagues, which forced Alfred to leave this position. Later he began collaborating with the little-known magazine Camera Notes. Despite the fact that the publication was unprofitable, for the photographer it became a kind of platform for promoting his own progressive ideas.

In 1902, Stieglitz organized an exhibition of modern American photography. Deciding who would take part was not an easy one. To select photographs, Alfred organized the Photo-Secession initiative group, which included his supporters and friends Edward Steichen, Clarence White, Gertrude Casebier, Frank Eugene, Frederick Holland Day, Alvin Langdon Coburn.

Alfred later founded the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession. Not only photographs were exhibited there, but also paintings by contemporary artists. However, business at the gallery did not always go well, as it was popular mainly among young people.

It is impossible not to mention the artist’s personal life, since love relationships often influence the creativity of talented people. Alfred's life was no exception. At the time of the opening of the gallery, the photographer had long been married to Emilia Obermeyer. But it was a marriage at the insistence of the parents. The couple could not find common ground.

While working at his gallery, he met the young artist and photographer Georgia O'Keeffe. Stieglitz was glad to finally meet someone who shared his view of life.

Alfred fell in love, and after his wife caught her husband photographing naked Georgia, they divorced and Alfred married a young girl. But after the wedding it became clear that there was a big age difference - 24 years! – does not have the best effect on their relationship. Georgia led a fairly free lifestyle and more than once fell in love with her husband’s students. But, despite this, she still returned to her husband.

But Alfred was also not completely devoted to his wife. In 1927, he began an affair with his twenty-two-year-old student. Her name was Dorothy Norman. These relationships had a very strong impact on Stieglitz’s work: inspiration descended on him again. As in his youth, Alfred enthusiastically took up the camera. Many researchers believe that it was during his relationship with Dorothy that he took some of the most expressive and vivid photographs.

It is believed that the success of Alfred's work occurred in the 20-30s of the last century. It was during this decade that his photographs were finally recognized in society: they were published on the pages of books and albums, and became magazine covers. For the first time, photographs were awarded museum status - and these were the works of Stieglitz. He achieved his cherished goal - photography was recognized as art.

Constant struggle and nervous stress affected the photographer’s health. Beginning in 1938, he began to have frequent heart attacks. When he became completely weak and could no longer work, he became completely financially and physically dependent on Georgia, which was very depressing for him. Eight years later he died. After her husband's death, Georgia donated almost all of his works to various museums and libraries.

Born in the USA, in the state of New Jersey, in Hoboken on the very first day of the new year 1864 - January 1. His parents are a wealthy Jewish family that immigrated to America from Germany. When the boy was 11 years old, he loved to visit a local photo studio and watch the miracles happening in the darkroom. One day he saw a photographer retouching negatives. The old master explained to Alfred why retouching was needed: to make the person in the photograph look more natural. “I wouldn’t do that,” the boy answered the professional without hesitation. Researchers of the life and work of the great photographer, in order to emphasize his legendary status, usually begin this story with the words “they say that...”. But, interestingly, even when the name of Stieglitz was already known throughout the world, the master never retouched his negatives.

In 1881, the Stiglitz family returned to their homeland with the goal of giving their children a classical European education. Soon after his return, Alfred entered the mechanical engineering department of the Berlin Higher Technical School. In the very first months of his life in Germany, the young man became interested in painting, literature, avant-garde art, and met its representatives. And soon, in 1883, while walking along one of the streets of Berlin, he wandered into a store and saw a camera in its window. The young man bought it. The camera simply fascinated Alfred. He didn't break up with her for a long time. Photography became the student's hobby. And then this hobby grew into passion. At first, he did what he loved under the guidance of Herman William Vogel, a professor of photochemistry. But, nevertheless, the main lessons of photography were taught to Stieglitz by the world around him.

During his numerous travels around Europe, young Stieglitz was practically never separated from his camera. He took a lot of photographs. Alfred's lens included peasants, fishermen, and residents of various European cities. Landscapes were no stranger to him, both urban and rural. For Stieglitz, this initial period of creativity was a time of experimentation. Alfred was then more attracted to the technical capabilities of photography. One of his photographs from that time was taken with an exposure of exactly one day: 24 hours! It showed a car parked in a dark basement. All lighting is one dim lamp. Alfred became more and more interested in photography techniques and the art of photography. And already in 1887 in London, at a competition for amateur photographers, he received his first well-deserved award - a silver medal. It was presented to Stieglitz by Peter Henry Emerson himself, author of the famous book Naturalistic Photography for Art Students.

In 1890, Alfred Stieglitz returned to his homeland, New York. And he became a partner in a company that made photoengravings (Photochrome Engraving Company). But photography remained the budding businessman’s main passion. And photography loved Alfred. Over the last decade of the 19th century, the photographer became the owner of one and a half hundred awards, received not only in his homeland, but also in many other countries of the world. The reason for this is not only Stieglitz's phenomenal talent, but also his admirable ability to work. He believed that when shooting, the first thing you need to do is choose a location, and then study the lines of objects and different types of lighting. You also need to observe the changes taking place in the frame, the people who appear and disappear in it. It is necessary to wait for the moment at which the composition of the future photograph comes into complete harmony. And sometimes you have to wait for hours for this. One of Stieglitz's famous photographs, Fifth Avenue in Winter, was taken on February 22, 1893. The author waited for three hours in a strong snowstorm for the right moment! This is how he himself later talked about it: “The prospect of the street looked very promising... But there was no plot, no drama. Three hours later, a horse-drawn horse appeared on the street, making its way through the snowstorm and flying straight at me. The driver whipped the horses on the sides. This was what I was waiting for." The master sometimes returned to the same object many times, often weeks and months later. He admitted that sometimes he didn’t even know what he expected from this object each time. One day his father asked Alfred: why do you photograph this building so many times? The photographer replied: I'm just waiting for the moment when the building itself moves towards me. After all, it is the image of all of America, and I want to capture this image. Stieglitz did not try to look for exotic nature. He loved, as he himself said, to explore the researched. And he sometimes found subjects for photographs right at the door of his house.

From the very beginning of his creative activity in the field of photography, Alfred felt a certain disdain of the artistic elite for his work. His artist friends openly told Stieglitz that they were jealous of him. They thought his photographs were much better than their paintings. “But photography is not art,” the artists believed. Alfred did not understand then how this was possible: on the one hand, consider the work delightful. and on the other hand, to completely reject it as not made by hands. The photographer was outraged by the fact that artists put their works much higher than his works just because they were created by hand. He could not come to terms with this and began to fight for the recognition of photography as a new artistic means of self-expression of the author, for the art of photography to be equal in rights with other forms and types of fine arts.

In 1893, Alfred Stieglitz took over the leadership of the American Amateur Photographer magazine. But very soon problems arose in the team. Colleagues began to consider the new editor-in-chief to be too authoritarian, and already in 1896 he left the magazine. And almost immediately he took up the then little-known magazine “Camera Notes”, which was published under the auspices of the society of photography enthusiasts “The Camera Club of New York”. This publication was seriously limited financially; due to extreme savings, its authors and photographers (with rare exceptions) did not even receive a fee. At certain periods, the publication of the magazine was so unprofitable that the editor had to invest personal funds in its production, fortunately, Stiglitz had the funds for this. But all this did not bother the editor. After all, now he had an excellent platform to promote his ideas and popularize himself and his friends as photographers.

In early 1902, Charles De Kay, director of the National Arts Club, invited Alfred Stieglitz to organize a photographic exhibition of contemporary American masters. Serious passions then flared up in the club. The reason is whose works should participate in this exhibition. Stiglitz, as an organizer, could not achieve unanimity among his colleagues. And then he made a cunning decision: two weeks before the opening of the exhibition, he formed an initiative group from supporters of his point of view, which he instructed to select works. Interestingly, this group went down in photography history under the name “Photo-Secession”. The date of its foundation is considered to be February 17, 1902.

At the opening of this exhibition, which subsequently became a huge success, Gertrude Casebier, an American photographer, one of the greatest masters of pictorialism, publicly asked Stieglitz: What kind of group is this, and can she consider herself a member of it? Stiglitz retorted: “Do you yourself feel like a member of it?” Gertrude answered in the affirmative. Then Alfred smiled: “Well, that’s nice.” This is already enough. But when Charles Berg, a participant in the exhibition that had just opened, asked him the same question, Stieglitz rudely and authoritarianly refused. After this incident, many realized that only Stieglitz himself, personally, decides on the membership of a particular photographer in Photo-Secession. And the decision of the group founder is not subject to any appeal.

Almost only friends and favorites of the founder and permanent chairman Stiglitz became members of the club: Clarence White, Edward Steichen, Frederick Holland Day, Gertrude Kaysebier, Frank Eugene. Alvin Langdon Coburn was later recruited into the group. Soon Photo-Secession also had its own printed organ - the Camera Work magazine. It was published for 14 years.

The year 1905 was marked for Alfred Stieglitz by the founding of the “Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession”. True, it became known under a different name - “Gallery 291”, as it was located on Fifth Avenue at number 291. Not only photographs, but also works of contemporary artists began to appear on the walls of this gallery: Cezanne, Renoir. Matisse, Manet, Rodin, Picasso, Braque... But these exhibitions were not always successful. Not only the critics were harsh, but also the general public. The Matisse exhibition that took place in 1908 was not only destroyed by art critics, but also caused a protest from Stieglitz’s friends from the Camera Club. The master's resentment was so serious that he left the group and never returned to it.

The exhibition and sale of Picasso's works in 1911 also ended in complete collapse. Stieglitz later recalled with regret that he sold only one drawing of the artist, made when he was a twelve-year-old boy. And even then this purchase was made by Stiglitz himself. “When I returned Picasso his unsold works, I was very ashamed in front of the master,” the gallery owner later recalled. - They were on sale for 20-30 dollars apiece. The entire collection on display could be purchased for a couple of thousand dollars. Then these works were offered to the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And he didn’t see anything remarkable in Picasso’s works. He said: such crazy things will never be accepted by America.” Nevertheless, the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession was a great success among the creative youth of America. In the fall of 1908, the gallery hosted an exhibition of Rodin's drawings. Georgia O'Keeffe, who was a student at Columbia College in those years and later became a famous artist in the United States and the wife of Alfred Stieglitz, recalled that their teachers recommended their students to go to this exhibition “just in case” - what if there was something in it "And perhaps - there is nothing. But you can’t miss it. “The organizer of this exhibition,” she later wrote, “was a strange, angry man whose hair, eyebrows and mustache grew in different directions and stood upright. “we were amazed not only by their frankness, but also by the fact that they were done completely differently from how we were taught.”

A few years after the Rodin exhibition, Alfred Stieglitz exhibited Georgia's own work. Moreover, without any permission from her. The indignant young artist very soon arrived at the studio and directly asked Stieglitz: “Who gave you permission to exhibit my work?” “Nobody,” Stieglitz answered her completely calmly and calmly, putting on his pince-nez. The dialogue went something like this:

But you cannot do this, just as you cannot kill your own child.

Nevertheless, I demand this,” Georgia exclaimed and then unexpectedly laughed.

In that case, I demand lunch,” Alfred retorted and smiled.

It was this meeting that marked the beginning of their friendship, cooperation and love, which lasted until the death of Alfred Stieglitz. Shortly after the Georgia exhibition, Stieglitz's wife Emeline caught Alfred photographing his beloved naked and drove the creators of beauty out into the street. After this incident, the Stiglitz couple separated forever. But, with the loss of Emmeline, whom he did not really love, Alfred also lost her fortune, thanks to which he, in general, financed basically all his many projects. In 1917, Stieglitz’s favorite brainchild, “Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,” also ceased to exist. Of course, Alfred did not become a beggar, but, nevertheless, he could no longer support the artists financially. “This is very good,” Georgia later said, “hungry artists write better”

Officially, Alfred and Georgia legalized their marriage in 1924. But, nevertheless, there is a huge age difference between the spouses - 24 years! - could not but affect their future relationships. Young, beautiful, daring and talented O'Keeffe was popular in society and every now and then fell in love with her husband's students. Her first lover at that time was the aspiring talented photographer Paul Strand, who was only three years younger than Georgia herself. After Paul she fell in love with Ansel Adams, an American landscape photographer, who at that time was at the peak of his popularity. Georgia O'Keeffe led a turbulent life. She communicated and lived with whoever she wanted, she could go anywhere. But she invariably returned to her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. The most scandalous, perhaps, is Georgia’s affair with Paul Strand’s wife, which happened in the late twenties. Interestingly, Strand’s wife herself was Stieglitz’s mistress several years ago. It is very difficult to understand all these relationships between Stieglitz, his wives, mistresses, friends and students. And there's no point. However, one more event from the personal life of Alfred Stieglitz is worth telling. In 1927, he met Dorothy Norman, who became his student and at the same time a model. Dorothy was only 22 years old at the time. Then she wrote a book about her teacher. At the beginning of his acquaintance with Norman, the sedate maestro of photography’s interest in life and creativity flared up with renewed vigor. He again picked up the camera, again did not part with it for days on end, photographing not only the beautiful body of his young lover, but also the city. Of course, he no longer ran through the streets, as in his youth, with a camera. Alfred captured city landscapes from the window of his house or workshop. Many art historians and researchers of Stieglitz’s work believe that the works created by the photographer during this period are much more expressive and brighter than the works of his youth.

Stieglitz's official wife, Georgia O'Keefe, took the separation from her husband quite hard. But, nevertheless, in this case, she behaved much smarter than his first wife. Georgia simply left, choosing to wait out Alfred's rampage. But then, of course, she returned, but had already set her own conditions for her husband. The creative side of Alfred Stieglitz's life in the twenties and thirties of the last century was successful and fruitful. He was deservedly popular all over the world, he still photographed a lot, his works were published in books and albums, and graced the covers. famous magazines, the presence of Stieglitz’s works at exhibitions made these exhibitions prestigious. The famous American photographer became the first representative of his profession, whose works began to have museum status. But, nevertheless, after the “Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession” was closed. , Stieglitz had problems promoting his works and the works of his fellow artists and students. In 1925, in December, he opened his new gallery, which he gave the name “Intimate”. Due to its small size, the master himself called it a “room”. However, in just the four years that it existed, the walls of “Intimate” saw more than a dozen exhibitions that became very popular. Having gathered his strength, the already elderly gallery owner opened a new gallery, “An American Place”, at the beginning of 1930. It became the last and existed until the end of the master’s life.

Encyclopedia Britannica writes: That Alfred Stieglitz “almost single-handedly propelled his country into the world of 20th century art.” He did this quite harshly; Stiglitz dealt harshly with those who dared to contradict him. He had no concessions even for his favorites. For example, he very strongly condemned Edward Steichen, who, according to Stieglitz, betrayed art for the sake of commerce. However, Stiglitz himself suffered greatly from his tough and difficult character. But I couldn’t help myself. The photographer's granddaughter, Sue Davidson Lowe, wrote a book about her eminent grandfather, Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography. In it, she said that Alfred could not come to terms with the fact that many students left him, looking for their own path in art and creativity. He considered this a betrayal on their part. “This was the drama of his whole life,” writes Sue Davidson Lowe. “He was a terrible owner. I didn’t realize this.” Stiglitz managed to quarrel even with his best friends. One of them, Paul Strand, later wrote that the day he entered Gallery 291 was one of the most fateful in his life, but Paul considers the day he left An American Place to be no less significant: “It was as if I had gone out into the fresh air, freed myself from everything that had become - at least for me - secondary, immoral, devoid of meaning,” he writes in his memoirs. But for his quarrelsomeness, toughness of character, stern disposition, at the end of his life Alfred Stiglitz, who was accustomed to command, was punished by almost complete physical dependence on his wife. In 1938, the elderly maestro of photography suffered a severe heart attack, and then several more. Each of these blows of fate made Stiglitz weaker and weaker. Georgia skillfully took advantage of the situation, quickly seizing the reins of power over her husband. Benita Eisler writes about this period of Stieglitz's life in her book "O" Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance. She says that Georgia rented a penthouse, painted all the rooms in it white, hung only her works on these white walls and forbade curtains on the windows. She wrote to the concierge a list of guests who could be allowed into the house. And she strictly forbade only one woman from opening the door - Dorothy Norman. Alfred could not object to his wife - he was already too weak. He was filled with anger and bitterness at her command of the house and over himself. During her departures, Stiglitz fell into a terrible depression. Complete financial dependence on Georgia was also unbearable for him. “Whenever I called Alfred,” said Claude Bragdon, “he was always terribly depressed and said that he wanted to die.” During Georgia's next departure in the summer of 1946, Alfred Stiglitz suffered another attack. It was the last for the famous gallery owner and master of photography. Returning to the city, the wife immediately hurried to see her husband in the hospital. She found Dorothy Norman at his bedside. Alfred was still alive, but consciousness had left him. The common misfortune did not reconcile the two women. O'Keefe rudely pushed Norman out of the room, and spent the last hours alone at the bedside of her dying husband.

Alfred Stieglitz died without regaining consciousness on July 13, 1946. As Stiglitz himself bequeathed, Georgia cremated his body and took his ashes to Lake George, not far from New York. It was in these places that their honeymoon took place. Georgia never told anyone where Alfred’s ashes were buried. She just said that she put it where he could hear the lake. For several years after the death of her famous husband, Georgia sorted out and put in order his archives. Later, she donated almost all of his legacy to major museums and libraries in the United States - more than three thousand photographs and about fifty thousand letters.