Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23
1HE CAMERAS WORK
Exhibition in the Corcoran
Gallery.
SPLENDID SPECIMENS
PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY AS A
DISTINCT ART.
Prints by Steichen, stieglitz and Sew
eral Other We1l-Known Ex-
hibitors Shown.
SPLENDID SPECIMENS

An exhibition or Photographic prints ny
Che Photo Secessionists of America, which
opened with a reception and private view
in the hemicycle of the Corcoran Gallery or
Art on last Tuesday evening. is attracting
more than usual attention. 1t consists of
one hundred and ifty-nine prints by thirty
seven members or the Photo-Secession. an
organization founded over two years ago
for the purpose of loosely holding together
those Americans devoted to pictorial pho
Biography in their endeavor to compel its
recogr .tion. not as a handmaiden of art
but as a distinctive medium of individual
expression" Its members seeded not
from another organization. but from the
established methods and standards of COM
merci.l photography. They revolted, if re-
volt there was from the troop that marched
under the banner of You touch the button
and we'll do the rest" and declared to the
world that the mechanism of the camera
was but means to an end. To them the cam
era is not machine, but a tool. Offering
endless opportunities for individual express
sion. y few years ago photography was
placed completely outside the pale of the
fine arts as printing, and artists who utii-
lied il in the making of their pictures were
regarded in the category with the small
boy who makes use of a crib; but today
this is no longer true. In some of the most
exclusive exhibitions abroad the works of
and awarded honors. and in the ranks of
the society are to be found men and women
who are painters of established reputation.
This change has not. however. been wrought
In d ~, or even, indeed. in two years. For
twenty years MIR. Alfred StieglitZ, the
founder and director of the secession, has
given himself to the work, and all the nine
origin members or fellows of the coun-
Gil. had won distinction in the field before
the organization was established. The pic
toriai photography of the present time is
not freak or fad; it has not been dis
covered or developed, but rather evolved
by n'en and women who were primal ily at
heart artists.
There are. strange as 1t may SEEM certain
conservative photographers who, clinging
tenaciously to the letter of the law insist
that the work of the Photo-Secessionists is
1lleSl innate. just as there are few paint
erS who. under the influence of old tradi-
TONS. can see no art in it. But they are
wrong. 1t is with result alone that one
need be concerned and if that result is the
means of asSing on individual express
sion none can forbid it the name of art 1t
Is not probable that photography will ever
SuperSede painting. 1t must always be lin
lted by the necessity of building upon fact
put there is no reason why 1t should NOT
oe accorded place among the graphic arts.
Al a glance the present exhibition in the
hemlcycle is not impressive; the room is
too large and the walls are not a color to
snow off TO the best advantage pictures of
TINS type, but upon close inspection each
print reveals a beauty and interest which
Is at the same time delightful and sl,rprfs
ing. ~ SUI ~ 10
Mr.. Steichen's Prints.
Half way round the semi-circular wall
hangs a group of ten prints by Mr.. F,duard
steichen. who has the distinction of having
been one of the first painters to seriously
take up photography, and who has had the
honor OF photographing some of the most
eminent artists of the day. His were. indeed
the hrst photographs which were passed by
the jury of the Paris Salon The central
picture OF TINS group is of Rodin. the great
french sculptor who has recently succeeded
w hlstler as the president of the Interna
tonal Society of Painters, Sculptors and
Engravers To one side is seen the figure
or the sculptor and to the other In equal
gloom in the bronze statue called ."The
Thinker, while in the Immediate back
ground, concentrating all the light and
dominating the composition, is his rough
heWn marble portrait statue of Victor
Hugo. work of tremendous force and
power The arrangement Is unique and
TIE rendering unusual, but the result is ex-
tremely impressive, satisfactory and effect
I've, mere, TOO, are portraits of M. Char
tran: the Well-known portrait painter. and
or Watt, the distinguished English artist
who painted the Love and Life which he
himself presented TO the American people
mere are lkenesses of Sadakichi Hartman
one OF the first art critics to espouse the
cause or pictorial photography; of j. Pier
pont Morgan. the financier and of Nine.
Duse, the actress; besides two subtle chaste
ana very artistic studies of the nude. All
OF these prints have the quality of paintings
and set forth the character of the subject
AT the same time that they give expression
10 the photographers individuality
Near by to the right hangs the work of
Mr. Steglitz, the director of the Secession
ana the editor Of Camera Work" an films
uatru edluon-de-luxe quarterly published in
We interests OF pictorial photography. There
must be accounted worthy of the highest
need OF praise. The Street 18th avenue
New York; on a Winter Afternoon shows
an excellent Interpretation Of a difficult sub
1ect. and indicates definite knowledge of
the principles of composition and of the
massing of light and shade Spring
Shower" and The Flatiron, New York.
snow two other characteristic views OF
Gotham, whereas Watching for the Re
turn takes one to the coast of Holland
Ills Hand of Man" a powerful locomotive
drawing out of great terminal station at
me close OF day. is also most notable and
h-S Icy Night" WILL at the present sea son
especially. meet with appreciation.
Women's Work
On the opposite wall is a group of pic
lures by Mrs. Gertrude Kasebier. which
both in size and quality takes the next
rank Here are portraits, figure studies
pictorial compositions and imagina tive
same individuality of expression marks
them as the work of a single person. but
each is interpreted in a manner peculiarly
suitable to the subject. Compare for ex-
ample. her portraits of Alvin Langdon Co
burn" and Of Father Huntington or her
compositions Harmony and 1.-THE Man
ger, or Labor" and 1.-The Bat" Sub
Jectively and technically each is the antith-
esis of the other. The Manger," repre-
sentinS the Madonna seated beside the low
ly cradle with the Infant Savior in her
arms, is one of the most famous prints in
the collection, single copy of which is
known to have sold q while ago in New
York for three hundred dollars
And that suggests one of the important
features OF this new photography the in
dividualty of each print. As in etching
the plate is made once for all yet in the
same manner no two prints are ever identi-
cal, and as much depends upon the printer
as upon the maker Of the negative.
In this way Miss Rose Clark and Miss
Eliza beth Wade Of Buffalo have united in
the execution and production of pictorial
photographs A partnership which, to jldge
from the results, has proved most feiititups
From their studio come a study OF little
Had, out of the Past" which has all the
richness OF tone of painting by an old
master. a Renlbrandtesque head OF an old
IZ-v-R