The Photo-Secession was an early 20th century movement that promoted photography as a fine art in general and photographic

pictorialism Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

in particular. A group of photographers, led by

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

and

F. Holland Day Fred Holland Day (23 July 1864—23 November 1933), known professionally as F. Holland Day, was an American photographer and publisher. He was prominent in literary and photography circles in the late nineteenth century and was a leading Pict ...

in the early 20th century, held the then controversial viewpoint that what was significant about a photograph was not what was in front of the camera but the manipulation of the image by the artist/photographer to achieve his or her subjective vision. The movement helped to raise standards and awareness of art photography. The group is the American counterpart to the Linked Ring, an invitation-only British group which seceded from the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

Context and history

The group was formed in 1902 after Stieglitz was asked by the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote publ ...

to put together an exhibition of the best in contemporary American photography. While organizing the show, Stieglitz had a disagreement with some of the more conservative members of the Club about which photographers should be included. To strengthen his position, Stieglitz rapidly formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to give the impression that his views were backed by many other prominent photographers. Although he later claimed that he had “enlisted the aid of the then newly organized and limited ‘Photo-Secession’," in fact there was no such group until he formed it on February 17, 1902, just two weeks before the show at the National Arts Club was scheduled to open. In naming the group, Stieglitz is thought to have been influenced by the 1898

Munich Secession The Munich Secession was an association of visual artists who broke away from the mainstream Munich Artists' Association in 1892, to promote and defend their art in the face of what they considered official paternalism and its conservative polic ...

Exhibition (''Verglag des Vereines Bildender Kunstler Muchnes "Sezession"''). Stieglitz corresponded frequently with Fritz Matthies-Masuren, who wrote an essay in the catalog for the Munich exhibition, and he was captivated by the thought of photographers defining their own art form. In 1899 he wrote: :In Munich, the art-centre of Germany, the 'Secessionists', a body of artists comprising the most advanced and gifted men of their times, who (as the name indicates have broken away from the narrow rules of custom and tradition) have admitted the claims of the pictorial photograph to be judged on its merits as a work of art independently, and without considering the fact that it has been produced through the medium of the camera. Later in his life, Stieglitz gave this account about the origins of the Photo-Secession: :National Arts Club Director Charles DeKay: "What shall we call this xhibition" :Stieglitz: "Call it ''An Exhibition of American Photography arranged by the Photo-Secession''". :DeKay: "What's that? Who is it?" :Stieglitz: "Yours truly, for the present, and there'll be others when the show opens. The idea of Secession is hateful to Americans - they'll be thinking of the Civil War. I'm not. Photo-Secession actually means a seceding from the accepted idea of what constitutes a photograph." Cultural historian Jay Bochner points out that it is important to look at the Photo-Secession for more than visual aesthetics: :What, then, was this secession ''from?'' It was not only from artwork that had gone stale through the copying of Victorian, conventional styles, but more importantly from the dictatorship of the entrenched institutions, galleries, art schools and professional art organizations that enforced or at very least sanctioned copying or imitation. Proponents of

Pictorialism Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

, which was the underlying value of the Photo-Secession, argued that photography needed to emulate the

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

of the time. Pictorialists believed that, just as a painting is distinctive because of the artist’s manipulation of the materials to achieve an effect, so too should the photographer alter or manipulate the photographic image. Among the methods used were

soft focus In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while ...

; special filters and lens coatings; burning,

dodging Dodging and burning are terms used in photography for a technique used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of select areas on a photographic print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure. In a darkroom print from a film ...

and/or cropping in the

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and ph ...

to edit the content of the image; and alternative printing processes such as

sepia toning In photography, toning is a method of altering the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, it is a chemical process carried out on metal salt-based prints, such as silver prints, iron-based prints (cyanotype or Van Dyke ...

, carbon printing, platinum printing or gum bichromate processing. Content of the images often referred to previous work done by other artists, especially Greek and Roman art. Images often contained stylistic consistency such as dramatic lighting, perspective, geometry, use of

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochr ...

/black and white, and

high contrast Lincoln Barrett (born 18 September 1979), better known by the stage name High Contrast, is a Welsh electronic music producer, DJ and record producer. He produces drum and bass music, and his 2009 album ''Confidential'' reached BPI gold cer ...

. In founding the Photo-Secession, Stieglitz asserted that it was a “rebellion against the insincere attitude of the unbeliever, of the Philistine, and largely exhibition authorities.” While this was in part true, his actions demonstrated that the creation of the Photo-Secession was also about advancing his own position in the world of photography and art. Stieglitz’s sole role in forming and tightly controlling the Photo-Secession was made clear by two exchanges that took place at the opening of the National Arts Club show. In the first, Stieglitz implied that membership in the group was relatively open: :

Gertrude Käsebier Gertrude Käsebier (née Stanton; May 18, 1852 – October 12, 1934) was an American photographer. She was known for her images of motherhood, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for women. Biography ...

: “What’s this Photo-Secession? Am I a photo-secessionist?” :Stieglitz: “Do you feel that you are?” :Käsebier: “I do.” :Stieglitz: “Well, that’s all there is to it.” However, when Charles Berg asked Stieglitz if he, too, was a Photo-Secessionist, Stieglitz brusquely informed him that he was not. Stieglitz gave this response even though he was the one responsible for including three of Berg’s photos in the show. The “membership” of the Photo-Secession varied according to Stieglitz’s interests and temperament but was centered on the core group of Stieglitz,

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

, Clarence H. White, Käsebier,

Frank Eugene Frank Eugene (19 September 1865 – 16 December 1936) was an American-born photographer who was a founding member of the Photo-Secession and one of the first university-level professors of photography in the world. Early life Eugene was born in ...

, and later

Alvin Langdon Coburn Alvin Langdon Coburn (June 11, 1882 – November 23, 1966) was an early 20th-century photographer who became a key figure in the development of American pictorialism. He became the first major photographer to emphasize the visual potential of el ...

. The photographers included in the first exhibition were C. Yarnell Abbott, Prescott Adamson,

Arthur E. Becher Arthur Ernst Becher (July 29, 1877 – November 4, 1960) was an American artist and illustrator. Becher's career spanned 40 years, during which he illustrated for many of the leading magazines of the day including ''Collier's Weekly'', ''McCall' ...

, Charles I. Berg,

Alice Boughton Alice Boughton (14 May 1866 – 21 June 1943) was an early 20th-century American photographer known for her photographs of many literary and theatrical figures of her time. She was a Fellow of Alfred Stieglitz's Photo-Secession, a circle of photo ...

, John G. Bullock, Rose Clark and Elizabeth Flint Wade, F. Colburn Clarke, F. Holland Day, Mary M. Devens, William B. Dyer, Thomas M. Edmiston, Frank Eugene, Dallett Fuguet, Tom Harris,

, Joseph T. Keily, Mary Morgan Keipp, Oscar Maurer, William B. Post, Robert S. Redfield, W. W. Renwick, Eva Watson-Schütze, T. O'Conor Sloane, Jr., Ema Spencer,

, Edmund Stirling, Henry Troth, Mathilde Weil and Clarence H. White. In 1905 Stieglitz established with Steichen the

Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, a small but highly influential gallery where he continued to exhibit some of the more well-known members of the movement. The group continued to exhibit under the Photo-Secession name until about 1910, when several photographers finally grew tired of Stieglitz’s autocratic ways and left the group. In 1916 Käsebier, White, Coburn and others formed an organization called th
Pictorial Photographers of America
PPA) to continue promotion of the pictorial style. A year later Stieglitz formally dissolved the Photo-Secession, although by that time it existed in name only.

Stieglitz's statement

The following notice appeared in ''

Camera Work ''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world, with the goal to establish photography as a ...

'', no. 3, Supplement, July 1903 The Photo-Secession :"So many are the enquiries as to the nature and aims of the Photo- Secession and requirements of eligibility to membership therein, that we deem it expedient to give a brief résumé of the character of this body of photographers. :The object of the Photo-Secession is: to advance photography as applied to pictorial expression; to draw together those Americans practicing or otherwise interested in the art, and to hold from time to time, at varying places, exhibitions not necessarily limited to the productions of the Photo-Secession or to American work. :It consists of a Council (all of whom are Fellows); Fellows chosen by the Council for meritorious photographic work or labors in behalf of pictorial photography, and Associates eligible by reason of interest in, and sympathy with, the aims of the Secession. :In order to give Fellowship the value of an honor, the photographic work of a possible candidate must be individual and distinctive, and it goes without saying that the applicant must be in thorough sympathy with our aims and principles. :To Associateship are attached no requirements except sincere sympathy with the aims and motives of the Secession. Yet, it must not be supposed that these qualifications will be assumed as a matter of course, as it has been found necessary to deny the application of many whose lukewarm interest in the cause with which we are so thoroughly identified gave no promise of aiding the Secession. It may be of general interest to know that quite a few, perhaps entitled by their photographic work to Fellowship, have applied in vain. Their rejection being based solely upon their avowed or notoriously active opposition or equally harmful apathy. Many whose sincerity could not be questioned were refused Fellowship because the work submitted was not equal to the required standard. Those desiring further information must address the Director of the Photo-Secession, Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, 1111 Madison Avenue, New York."

List of members

List of Members of the Photo-Secession, found in ''

'', no. 3, Supplement, July 1903 Fellows (Founders and Council) *John G. Bullock - Philadelphia *William. B Dyer. - Chicago *Dallett Fuguet - New York *

- New York * Joseph T. Keiley - New York * Robert S. Redfield - Philadelphia * Eva Watson-Schütze - Chicago * Edward J. Steichen - New York *

- New York *Edmund Stirling - Philadelphia *John F. Strauss - New York * Clarence H. White - Newark, Ohio The following were also listed Fellows, but not members of the Council *

- Boston *

Mary Devens Mary Devens (17 May 1857 – 13 March 1920) was an American photographer who was considered one of the ten most prominent pictorial photographers of the early 20th century. She was listed as a founding member of Alfred Stieglitz’s famed Photo-Sec ...

- Boston *William B. Post - Fryeburg, Me. *S. L. Willard - Chicago Associates *Prescott Adamson - Philadelphia *W. P. Agnew - New York *A. C. Bates - Cleveland, Ohio *Edward LaVelle Bourke - Chicago * Annie W. Brigman - Oakland, Cal. *Norman W. Carkhuff - Washington *W. E. Carlin - New York *J. Mitchell Elliot - Philadelphia *Dr. Milton Franklin - New York *George A. Heisey – Newark, Oh. *Sam S. Holzman - New York *Marshall P. Kernochan - New York * Sarah H. Ladd - Portland, Ore. *Chester Abbott Lawrence - New York *Fred K. Lawrence - Chicago *Oscar Maurer - San Francisco *William J. Mullins - Franklin, Pa. *Olive M. Potts - Philadelphia *Harry B. Reid - New York *Harry C. Rubincam - Denver * T. O'Conor Sloane - Orange, N. J. *Walter P. Stokes - Philadelphia *Mrs. George A. Stanbery - Zanesville, Ohio *Katherine Stanbery - Zanesville, Ohio *George B. Vaux - Philadelphia *Mary Vaux - Philadelphia *Lily E. White - Portland, Ore. * Myra Wiggins - Salem, Ore. *Arthur W. Wilde - Philadelphia Later the following photographers were listed as Members of the Photo-Secession. Unlike Fellows and Associates, no definition was given of what constituted a member. All categories and assignments of membership were made by Stieglitz himself. *Charlotte C. Albright - Buffalo, N. Y. *J. W. Alexander - New York *John Aspinwall - Newburgh, N.Y. *

- New York *A. K. Boursault - New York *John M. Bowles - New York *F. E. Brown - Grand Rapids, Mich. * Francis Bruguière - San Francisco * Elizabeth Buehrmann - Chicago *Charles H. Caffin - New York *S. R. Carter -Toronto, Canada *Mrs. F. F. Coburn - New York *C. C. Crowther - Kobe, Japan *S. D. Dixon - New York *J. M. Drivet - New York *Charles B. Duryea - New York *Hiram Duryea - New York *W. G. Eckstein - New York *

- New York *Herbert G. French - Cincinnati *George Haviland - New York *

Paul Haviland Paul Burty Haviland (17 June 1880 – 21 December 1950) was a French-American photographer, writer and arts critic who was closely associated with Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secession. Biography Haviland was born to Charles Edward and Madelei ...

- New York *L. A. Heinsheimer - New York *H. A. Hess - Springfield, Ill. *J. P. Hodgins - Toronto, Canada *L. J. R. Holst - New York *S. S. Hornor - Concordville, Pa. *F. W. Hunter - New York *W. F. James - Chicago * Frances B. Johnston - Washington *Walter G. Jones - New York *Edward W. Keck - Rochester, N. Y. *Spencer, Jr. Kellogg - Buffalo, N. Y. *J. B. Kerfoot - New York *R. Kimbell - New York *Louis A. Lamb - Chicago *H. W. Lance - New York *J. N. Laurvik - New York *S. Brainerd Lawrence - New York * Adelaide C. icLeeson - Douglas, Alaska *A. A. Lewis - New York *Helen. Lohman - New York *C. H. Macdowell - Chicago *F. F. Marks - Camden, N. J. *L. M. McCormick - Asheville, N. C. *Arthur. Mooney - New York *Charles Peabody - Cambridge, Massachusetts *Jeanette B. Peabody - Cambridge, Massachusetts *F. H. Pratt - Worcester, Mass. *Landon Rives - Cobham, Va. *C. W. Roepper - Philadelphia *L. B. Schram - New York * Sarah C. Sears -Boston * George Seeley - Stockbridge, Mass. *H. S. Smith - Boston *L. F. Stephany - Pittsburgh *Albert E. Sterner - New York *Karl Strauss - New York *Elizabeth R. Tyson - Boston *S. S. Webber - Trenton, N. J. *W. E. Wilmerding - New York

References

External links

Timeline of Art History: Pictorialism in America
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Catalogs of Photo-Secession photography exhibitions held between 1888 and 1914
{{Alfred Stieglitz American photography organizations American art movements * Cultural history of the United States Modern art