Interpretation

1917

The end of the 291 gallery and of Camera Work

The year 1917 saw the end both of Stieglitz's direction of the 291 gallery, which he had run since 1905, and of Camera Work, which had produced 50 issues in 14 years. He later ran several more galleries.

1917

Duchamp's “Fountain” photographed at 291

Marcel Duchamp's readymade Fountain, a urinal signed “R. Mutt” that had been rejected by the Society of Independent Artists exhibition, was displayed and photographed at Stieglitz's gallery-studio 291. The photograph was published in The Blind Man; the original soon disappeared, and it was from this photograph that the Fountain was later reconstructed.

June 1918

O'Keeffe comes to New York; he leaves his family

In early June 1918 O'Keeffe moved to New York from Texas after Stieglitz promised her a quiet studio. Within a month his wife Emmy came home during one of the first nude photography sessions in the family apartment and told him to stop seeing O'Keeffe or get out; Stieglitz left and immediately found a place in the city where he and O'Keeffe could live together.

early 1921

Exhibition at the Anderson Galleries: 146 prints

At the invitation of Mitchell Kennerley, in early 1921 Stieglitz hung his first one-man exhibition since 1913: of the 146 prints only 17 had been seen before, and 46 were of O'Keeffe, many of them nudes, with the model unidentified. In the catalogue he made his famous declaration: “I was born in Hoboken. I am an American. Photography is my passion. The search for Truth my obsession.”