page_title: Camera Work
section_title: Beyond photography (1910–1914)
hierarchical_section_title: Camera Work / Publishing history / Beyond photography (1910–1914)
caption_attribution_description: English: "Photography - New York", by Paul Strand
context_page_description: Camera Work was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It is known for its many high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world and its editorial purpose to establish photography as a fine art. It has been called "consummately intellectual", "by far the most beautiful of all photographic magazines", and "a portrait of an age [in which] the artistic sensibility of the nineteenth century was transformed into the artistic awareness of the present day."
context_section_description: In January, 1910, Stieglitz abandoned his policy of reproducing only photographic images, and in issue 29 he included four caricatures by Mexican artist Marius de Zayas. From this 'point on Camera Work would include both reproductions of and articles on modern painting, drawing and aesthetics, and it marked a significant change in both the role and the nature of the magazine. This change was brought about by a similar transformation at Stieglitz's New York gallery, which had been known as the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession until 1908. That year he changed the name of the gallery to "291", and he began showing avant-garde modern artists such as Auguste Rodin and Henri Matisse along with photographers. The positive responses he received at the gallery encouraged Stieglitz to broaden the scope of Camera Work as well, although he decided against any name change for the journal.
  This same year a huge retrospective exhibition of the Photo-Secession was held at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. More than fifteen thousand people visited the exhibition over its four-week showing, and at the end the Gallery purchased twelve prints and reserved one room for the permanent display of photography. This was the first time a museum in the U.S. acknowledged that photography was in fact an art form, and, in many ways, it marked the beginning of the end for the Photo-Secession.
  After the Buffalo show Stieglitz began showcasing more and more art in Camera Work. In 1911 a double issue was devoted to reproductions of Rodin's drawings and analyses of his, Cézanne's and Picasso's work. While this was a very bold move to promote modern art, it did not sit well with the photographers who still made up most of the subscription list. Half of the existing subscribers immediately cancelled their subscriptions.
  By 1912 the number of subscriptions had dropped to 304. The shift away from photography to a mix of other art and photography had cost him many subscribers, yet he stubbornly refused to change his editorial direction. In an attempt to inflate the value of the issues in the marketplace and thereby attract more subscribers, Stieglitz began to destroy unwanted copies. The price of back issues soon increased substantially, but the number of paid subscriptions continued to dwindle.
caption: Photograph - New York, by Paul Strand. Published in Camera Work No 49/50, 1917
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