The creative legacy of
two giants of 20th century American art will be explored through photographs
and paintings in Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe & American Modernism
at the Wadsworth Atheneum, April 16 - July 11, 1999.
Wadsworth Atheneum
Hartford, CT
860-278-2670
http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org
Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe & American Modernism
The creative legacy of
two giants of 20th century American art will be explored through photographs
and paintings in Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe & American Modernism
at the Wadsworth Atheneum, April 16 - July 11, 1999.
Right: Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Left: Right: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait, 1918, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Alfred Stieglitz, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Lower Right: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait, 1920, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, M&M Karilok Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
With 112 photographs and photogravures from the Alfred
Stieglitz Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, this is the first
major photography show to be presented by the Wadsworth Atheneum since the
Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition of 1989.
According to curator Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, "The
Wadsworth Atheneum's distinguished history of presenting photography exhibitions
began in the 1930s with shows devoted to George Platt Lynes [1931] and Man
Ray [1934]. The current show focuses on Alfred Stieglitz as one of America's
most important modernist photographers, and explores the considerable influence
his work had on the American modernists he so passionately supported, exhibited,
and promoted at his New York gallery,'291'. It also emphasizes the visual
exchange that took place between photography and painting," she continued.
In part a chronicle of Stieglitz's artistic evolution over his 50-year career, Stieglitz, O 'Keeffe & American Modernism features 62 pristine images--each a classic of early modern photography--that were printed, mounted, matted, and framed by Stieglitz himself.
Right: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe,
A Portrait, 1918, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The Georgia
O'Keeffe Foundation, Sophie M. Friedman Fund and Lacy Dalbiac Luard Fund,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Left: Alfred Stieglitz, Poplars, Lake George,
1933, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe, Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston
His early styles, methods, and subjects encompassed soft-focus
Pictorialist photographs; photogravures, or images etched into printing
plates directly from the negatives; and atmospheric and technically revolutionary
views of New York City that were photographed in extreme light and weather
conditions. By his late career, Stieglitz was known for sharp-focus "straight"
photography, and found plenty of subjects by looking out his New York City
high-rise window or walking around his summer home at Lake George. He was
also fascinated by portraiture, and photographed his artistic associates,
friends, and family.
Georgia O'Keeffe:
Before Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe were married in 1924, they
had already forged one of the great artistic partnerships in American history.
O'Keeffe was foremost among the American modernist painters Stieglitz championed;
she was also his muse and subject of some of his most captivating, haunting,
and sought after images, namely the "O'Keeffe Portrait."
Left: Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothy True, 1919, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The Alfred Stieglitz, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Right: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait, 1919, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, M&M Karilok Foundation, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
This extensive "portrait in time" consists of
hundreds of photographs taken from 1917, a year after their meeting, until
1937, when at age 73, Stieglitz quit photography. The seventeen photographs
of O'Keeffe shown in the exhibition exemplify Stieglitz's belief that a
conventional face shot was insufficient for capturing or revealing the complex
character of his subject.
O'Keeffe Paintings: Five of O'Keeffe's groundbreaking paintings will be exhibited.
These comprise two little-known works of the early 1920s from St. Joseph
College, Hartford; The Lawrence Tree (1929) in the Wadsworth Atheneum
collection; East River from the 30th Story of the Shelton Hotel (!928)
from the New Britain Museum of American Art; and Out Back of Marie's
II (1930) from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Sante Fe, New Mexico. One
of many juxtapositions of painting and photography will include O'Keeffe's
Shelton Hotel painting with a Stieglitz photograph, From the Shelton,
Looking Northwest (1932), both views from their high-rise apartment
in New York City.
Above Left: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait, 1920, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The Alfred Stieglitz ,Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Right: Alfred Stieglitz, From the Shelton, Loking West, 1931, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Stieglitz Circle: Stieglitz's impact on his fellow artists will further be revealed in 50 photographs by colleagues Paul Strand, Edward Steichen, Ansel Adams, and Gertrude Kasebier, among others, and in 20 oils and watercolors by Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Arthur Dove, and Charles Demuth. (Nineteen of these paintings are from the Wadsworth Atheneum's permanent collection.)
Exhibition Sponsor: Lincoln Financial Group is
the corporate sponsor of Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe & American
Modernism. "We believe the arts are an important influence, stimulating
the development of creativity, understanding, responsibility, and tolerance,"
stated John Gotta, Senior Vice President, Lincoln Financial Group. "The
Wadsworth Atheneum plays a central role in furthering these goals in Hartford
and throughout Connecticut. Lincoln Financial Group is especially proud
to join with the Wadsworth in presenting this collection of American art
and providing a unique opportunity for area school children to participate
in the exhibition," he concluded. 
About the Artists: Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) believed that artistic expression resulted from a balance of "inner and outer vision" with profound personal experience. Because he was determined to win acceptance of photography as an art form equal to painting and sculpture, Stieglitz sometimes referred to all visual arts as "camera work."
Left:
Alfred Stieglitz, The Flatiron, 1920, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Right: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe,
A Portrait, c. 1920, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of The
Alfred Stieglitz, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Lower Left: Alfred Stieglitz,
Equivalent, 1926, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe, Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston
Stieglitz was the first photographer to be recognized as
an artist by American museums, beginning in 1924 when the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, acquired a set of photographs directly from the artist. In
1950 and 1995, the MFA acquired additional Stieglitz photographs which had
been selected by O'Keeffe. 
The dialogue between Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)---and
between their photography and painting--began in 1917. Their artistic collaboration
remained a source of inspiration and unity for both of these great American
artists until the end of Stieglitz's life, and resulted in each creating
what O'Keeffe described as a body of "clear and bright and wonderful
work."
Left: Alfred Stieglitz, House and Grape Leaves,
1934, gift of Miss Georgia O'Keeffe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Right:
Alfred Stieglitz, Side of Barn, Lake George, 1923, gift of Miss Georgia
O'Keeffe, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Lower Left: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia
O'Keeffe, A Portrait, 1930, The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift
of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, M&M Karilok Foundation, Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston
Catalogue: The
Wadsworth Atheneum will publish an illustrated 100-page catalogue of the
exhibition written by Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Chief Curator and Krieble
Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, Wadsworth Atheneum; and by Amy
Ellis, Assistant Curator, American Paintings and Sculpture, Wadsworth Atheneum,
with Maura Lyons, recipient of the 1998-99 Charles and Alison Gill Fellowship
in Museum Practice, funded by the Collectors' Council of the Wadsworth Atheneum.
Funding for the exhibition catalogue is provided by the Larsen Family. 
Admission: There is a $3 surcharge above general museum admission for this special exhibition. During the museum's free general admission hours on Thursdays and on Saturday mornings, only the surcharge will be collected.
Read more about the Wadsworth Atheneum in Resource Library Magazine
For further biographical information on selected artists cited in this article please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
rev. 8/24/10
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