It is tricky sometimes to isolate a single person (or group of people) who start a major chain reaction that changes the world. Stieglitz is one of those people and photography as an art form was his contribution to society as a whole. Stieglitz (1864-1946) spent over 50 years introducing countless people to the art-form known as Photography. He wasn’t necessary the best photographer of his time, but it was more his total and complete dedication to the art form that made him so critical in photography’s success in America (and abroad). He ran galleries, produced books and magazines, and so much more. Whenever I see a Stieglitz, it always makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up – because I’m seeing a piece of art from a man who made this medium exist.
Rather than try and think of more to say, I think I’ll just use a quote of his that really says a lot about who he was: "I have always been a great believer in today. Most people live either in the past or in the future, so that they really never live at all. So many people are busy worrying about the future of art or society, they have no time to preserve what is. Utopia is in the moment. Not in some future time, some other place, but in the here and now, or else it is nowhere."
Wikipedia
Thank you Anthony! Thank you! Your photography - your posts on all of the artists - what they contributed, their views, your impression, thank you for all of this.
ReplyDeleteSincerely, with affection and gratitude - Amy