Photo-Secession Photography

Photo-Secession is an important thread within the history of photography. It can be understood as a group founded by Alfred Stieglitz in New York in 1902. This movement page brings together photographers, eras, and related contexts so readers can see how the approach developed, where it circulated, and which artists help define its historical position.

Basic facts
MovementPhoto-Secession
Photographers3

Overview

A group founded by Alfred Stieglitz in New York in 1902. Based around Gallery 291 and the journal Camera Work, it worked to have photography recognized as an art equal to painting.

Photographers

🇺🇸US1852–1934
Gertrude Käsebier
Pictorialism
PictorialismPhoto-Secession+1

Gertrude Kasebier believed that a portrait should be almost biographical, revealing the sitter's essential temperament and humanity rather than merely recording appearance.

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🇺🇸US1864–1946
Alfred Stieglitz
Modern Photography
PictorialismPhoto-Secession+2

Stieglitz made 291 and Camera Work a bridge from pictorialism to modern photography as museum art.

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🇱🇺 🇺🇸LU / US1879–1973
Edward Steichen
Pictorialism
PictorialismPhoto-Secession+1

Edward Steichen first embraced pictorialism because he believed photography could only claim equal status with painting if it looked painterly.

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