291 (art gallery)
291 is the commonly known name for an internationally famous art gallery that was located in Midtown Manhattan at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City from 1905 to 1917. Originally called the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession", the gallery was established and managed by photographer Alfred Stieglitz.
The gallery is recognized for two achievements: First, its exhibitions helped bring art photography to the same stature in America as painting and sculpture. Pioneering artistic photographers such as Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Gertrude Käsebier and Clarence H. White all gained critical recognition through exhibitions at 291. Equally important, Stieglitz used this space to introduce to the United States some of the most avant-garde European artists of the time, including Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brâncuși, Marcel Duchamp, and the Dadaist Francis Picabia.
Background
At the beginning of the 20th century photography's place in the world of fine art was still very indefinite. Although there had been major exhibitions of photography in the Europe and in the U.S., all of them had been judged by painters and sculptors. Photographers were not considered "real" artists, even though many photographers had won awards in international salons. Stieglitz himself had won over 150 awards throughout the world by the end of the 1890s.Stieglitz had hoped to elevate the position of photography by convincing the New York Camera Club to allow him to put together a panel of photographers who would then be the sole judges of a photography competition. After more than a year of arguing with the directors of the Camera Club, many of whom did not have any passion for photography as art, Stieglitz gave up and began looking for other forums.
In late 1900 he met Edward Steichen, who had been trained as a painter but who had also taken up photography. Steichen shared the enthusiasm and passion of Stieglitz, and soon the two were planning how to change the course of photography in America. By the following year they had conceived of a great exhibition of photography, the first to be judged by photographers themselves, and had found a venue at the National Arts Club in New York. In March 1902, an exhibition of "American Pictorial Photography, arranged by The Photo-Secession" opened to critical acclaim. Moreover, Stieglitz had met his goal of having a show judged by photographers since, in spite of the title of the show, by all accounts he was the sole person responsible for selecting the exhibitors.
The following year Stieglitz further cemented his reputation as the leading proponent of fine art photography by launching the famed journal Camera Work with the assistance of his friend and fellow photographer Joseph Keiley. He expected that Camera Work would soon not only be funded completely by its subscribers but that additional income from the sales of the journal would allow him to further promote "photography as a medium of individual expression." While the journal give him a respected forum for showcasing pictorial photography and for publishing his viewpoints, it was not a financial success. Rather than be daunted by this setback, Stieglitz became even more convinced that he would succeed in convincing the art world of the rightful place of photography if he could only find the right platform for his message.
By the end of 1904 Stieglitz was in a difficult position. Curtis Bell, president of the American Federation of Photography and an outspoken critic of Stieglitz, organized an exhibition called "The First American Photographic Salon" at the Clausen Galleries in New York. It was judged by a jury of eminent American painters, including William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri, which gave it considerable standing in the art world. Stieglitz and other photographers saw it as a direct challenge to Stieglitz's reputation, which it was clearly intended to be.
Stieglitz countered this move by trying to get some of the best known photographers of Europe to join him as part of a united front. He traveled to London to meet with some of the founders of the important photographic group The Linked Ring, including J. Crag Annan, Frederick H. Evans, Alvin Langdon Coburn and Alfred Horley Hinton. He was hoping to convince them to start a chapter of the Linked Ring in the United States, which he would direct. He also met with playwright George Bernard Shaw, who was an avid amateur photographer, about ways to promote photography as an art form. Stieglitz took ill before any of these conversations led to anything, and he had to return home. He was tired, frustrated and seeking a definitive new way to carry out his mission of promoting photography for photography's sake – independent of any other art form.
The Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (1905–1908)
When Stieglitz returned to New York in 1905 Edward Steichen was living in a studio apartment on the top floor of a small building at 291 Fifth Avenue, between 30th and 31st Streets on the East side of the avenue. Steichen noticed that some rooms across from him were vacant, and he soon convinced Stieglitz that they would make a perfect space to exhibit photography and in particular the works of the Photo-Secession. Stieglitz, who was still dejected from his trip to Europe, was reluctant at first, but Steichen persisted. By summer Stieglitz signed a one-year lease for three small rooms that would soon become one of the most famous art galleries in the world. The two of them began planning how to use the new space most effectively, not only as a gallery but as an educational facility for artists and photographers and as a meeting place for art lovers.In October, 1905, Stieglitz sent a letter to all members of the Photo-Secession, saying:
The Council of the Photo-Secession had planned to hold in the City of New York, early next spring, an exhibition consisting of the very best that has been accomplished in pictorial photography throughout the world, from the time of Hill, the father of pictorial photography, up to date. Many of the prints had been selected for this purpose, but owing to the impossibility of securing at any price adequate gallery accommodations during the desirable New York season, this exhibition must be deferred.
The Photo-Secession, for the present thus unable to hold the proposed big exhibition, has determined to present in detail some of the work which had already been selected and which would have been embraced therein, and for that purpose has leased rooms at 291 Fifth Avenue, New York City, where will be shown continuous fortnightly exhibitions of from thirty to forty prints each. These small but very select shows will consist not only of American pictures never before publicly shown in any city in this country, but also Austrian, German, British, French and Belgian photographs as well as such other art productions, other than photographic, as the Council of the Photo-Secession can from time to time secure.
It is planned to make these rooms headquarters for all Secessionists and to open them to the public generally".
Stieglitz and Steichen had planned the gallery as a commercial space, saying that it would "negotiate sales in behalf of owners of picture exhibited, charging a commission of 15 percent for the benefit of the Photo-Secession treasury." This premise is thought to have been pushed by Steichen, who had a much better business sense, and over the years it became a point of contention between the two men. Stieglitz believed that it was better for an exhibited work to go to someone who appreciated it for its artistic merit rather than its investment potential, and he was known to have quoted wildly inconsistent prices for the same piece depending on what he perceived as the true interest of the potential purchaser.
On November 24, 1905, the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession formally opened its doors, with almost no public notice. The opening was attended mainly by those members of the Photo-Secession who were in New York at the time. The first exhibit consisted of one hundred prints by Photo-Secession members, selected entirely by Stieglitz. Over the next few weeks hundreds of New Yorkers came to the gallery, and Stieglitz was once again elevated to the position of standard bearer of artistic photographer in America.
The opening show was followed in January, 1906, by one of French photographers, including Robert Demachy, Constant Puyo and René Le Bégue, all of whom showed prints made by the gum bichromate process. This was followed by a two-person show of the works of Gertrude Käsebier and Clarence H. White. Four more exhibitions were held in 1906, including one of British photographers, early prints by Steichen, a show devoted to German and Austrian photographers, and another exhibition of prints by members of the Photo-Secession.
After a highly successful first year, Stieglitz and Steichen felt that they had made their point about the stature of fine art photography. So confident were they of their success that their colleague Joseph Keily wrote "today in America the real battle for the recognition of pictorial photography is over. The chief purpose for which the Photo-Secession was established has been accomplished – the serious recognition of photography as an additional medium of pictorial expression."
Ironically, Stieglitz began to feel that he had succeeded in transforming the Photo-Secession into something he once disliked – an established institution, set in its ways and complacent in its approach to art. If there was any truth to this statement it reflected directly back at Stieglitz since he was known for his authoritarian control of the Photo-Secession and in selecting what was exhibited at the gallery. Until now Stieglitz's discomfort was held in check by Steichen's more conservative nature, but in the summer of 1906 Steichen decided to move to Paris in order to devote more of his time to his photography and painting. Without Steichen's business eye watching over him, Stieglitz began to reclaim some of his radical roots.
Stieglitz decided to shake things up, and he did so by mounting the first non-photography show at the gallery in January, 1907. This is notable because it signaled the beginning of Stieglitz's role as a pioneer promoter of modern art in America. The show, drawings by artist Pamela Colman Smith, initially attracted little attention, but after a prominent critic praised the work it became the best attended exhibition to date. A substantial number of the works were sold, and interest in the show was so strong that it had to be extended eight days.
Stieglitz began planning for future non-photography shows, but for the remainder of 1907 the walls were filled with exhibits by such photographers as Adolf de Meyer, Alvin Langdon Coburn and, once again, members of the Photo-Secession.
In the meantime, Steichen had become friends with the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin in Paris, and he convinced Rodin to lend him some of his drawings for a show at the gallery in New York. The 1908 gallery season started with the show "Drawings by Auguste Rodin", the first exhibit in the United States of his works on paper. The show caused a significant amount of controversy in the press, with one critic saying "they are not the sort of thing to offer to public view even in a gallery."
Soon after that show ended Stieglitz was notified that the landlord wanted to double the rent and would require a four-year lease. At that time the Photo-Secession as a group had only a small income, no more than US$400 per year. In spite of minor successes, the original plan that membership fees and commissions would support the gallery had not been realized. Although he appealed to those members that he knew, the economy was in a significant downturn and no offers of assistance appeared. Since there was no other source of income, Stieglitz sadly went about closing the gallery. By April of that year the original gallery space had been emptied. It was immediately taken over by a ladies' tailor shop.