New-York tribune., 1899-05-14
ARTISTIC CAMERA WORK.
A FINE COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS
BY ALFRED STIEGLITZ

Alfred Stieglitz, which is now on view at the
Camera Club No. 3 West Twenty -ninth-st. Is
an exhibition representing the highest excellence
10 which the art OF pictorial photography" has
yet attained. More than this, it also represents
the growth Of that art, for the finest results OF
the collection have been achieved only after ff-
teen years Of constant and devoted labor upon
the most interesting problems which the camera
offer Mr.. Stieglitz has long been known to
those interested in photography as an amateur
whose work could scarcely be compared with
that of others much superior ii from I'd
artistic point of view. He has continually
, striven to bring out all its nobler possibilities
and long ago demonstrated that more cons
plete mistake could be made than to regard the
camera merely a clever copying machine.
The interesting feature OF this exhibition is that
Mr. Steglitz has not hestated to include in 1t
what may be called his experiments in pictorial
photography made thirteen or fourteen years
ago when the art practically unknown.
Many Of these if entered in a high class compe-
ttion to-day might not receive more than
simple mention, yet at the time they were pro-
duced they carried off the highest honors, both
in this country and abroad, being considered
then by the judges the very best Of their kind.
The elghty-seven pictures which comprise the
collection were taken in many parts of the
i
Holland, as well as in this country-but Mr..
Stieglitz attaches little importance to the fact
that he has had great variety of scenes TO
choose from. The artistic photographer, he says,
can find opportunities everywhere and some Of
his best things have been obtained here in New
York in the midst Of what many people might
consider quite unpicturesque surroundings The
photograph called Winter, Fifth Avenue" al
though ii was made six years ago, is still re-
garded as one Of the finest examples of pictorial
winter street photography. 1t was taken in a
snowstorm, and the appearance of the snow,
driven by the wind in slantng lines across the
scene-an atmospheric condition highly difficult
| to render successfully-is at once faithful to
nature and wonderfully artistic Fifth-ave.
stage is In the middle foreground. numbering
through the snow toward the spectator. One Of
the first and still one of the best photographs Of
rany-d scenes, made in 1894, called "A
Wet Day the Boulevard" Both these pct-
ures have won many prizes.
The photographs taken in Katwyk, Holland,
are remarkably picturesque The figures Of the
sturdy Dutch women on the beach, toning in
harmoniously with the breezy background Of sea
and sky, have been caught by the camera artist
in characteristic poses. The enlarged carbon
print called "Scurrying Home" has won gold
medals in London, at Cardiff and in this city.
Amateur photographers will be interested in
the many special processes Of which some of the
prints in the collection specimens. These
processes are all concerned solely with the max
ing Of the print for Mr.. Stiegtz is, as he him
self says "a crank" in his condemnation of the
! retouchng Of negatives. series OF widely dif-
ferng prints, made from the same negative.
serve in several instances to show how far above
its old limits photography can be made to rise
The different effects are obtained by developing
the prints with different solutions and materials,
and also by a method Of developing with a brush
instead Of immersing the print In bath In the
usual way. Still another method is to develop 1t
by means OF spraying the solution upon it. Some
striking bits in the collection are prints in
| bichromate of gum, some in red and others In
! black on toned paper. "A September Land
scape" and "A Venetian Canal" are excellent
examples of the gum prints There is also
beautiful enlarged carbon print of the latter
picture.
But it is in the variations on picture which
he calls simply "A Study that Mr. Stiegtz has
achieved the greatest triumph in the exhibition.
II is a portrait of a graceful woman seated in a
chair and leaning forward, half turned around,
so that her back is toward the spectator. In
what NAV be called the manipulated print OF
this photograph the developing brush has oblit-
Grated all of the background that was obtrusve
in its effect and the woman's figure stands out
like a fine wash drawing. The brush does not
change a line that remains-it is emphatcaiy
not retouched picture-but it merely blOts out
with chemicals such portions as distract atteh-
ton from the central figure. There is sun an
+hor nrint from this negative not only manipu-
lated in the same way with the brush, but de-
veloped in solutions which produce two coors.