Before the Tavern

1888

First and second prizes in the same competition

The following year his works took both first and second places in the same competition. His reputation grew sharply, and British and German magazines began publishing his photographs.

1890

His sister Flora dies; he returns to New York

In 1890 his sister Flora died in childbirth, and Stieglitz returned to New York. Considering himself an artist, he refused to sell his photographs, so his father bought him a small photography business, the Photochrome Engraving Company, which rarely made a profit because of his demand for quality and the high wages he paid.

spring 1893

Co-editor of The American Amateur Photographer

In the spring of 1893 Stieglitz became co-editor of The American Amateur Photographer but refused a salary: his Photochrome company was now printing the magazine's photogravures, and he wanted to avoid any appearance of bias.

c. 16.11.1893

Married: Emmeline Stieglitz

1896

Vice-president of the new Camera Club

In May 1896 two organisations merged to form the Camera Club of New York; offered the presidency, Stieglitz became vice-president instead and was involved in every aspect of the club. Late that year he hand-pulled the photogravures for the first portfolio of his own work, Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies.

1897

First issue of Camera Notes

Stieglitz turned the Camera Club's newsletter into a magazine, Camera Notes, with full control over it; the first issue appeared in July 1897, and it was soon considered the finest photographic magazine in the world. The critic Sadakichi Hartmann wrote that artistic photography, the Camera Club and Alfred Stieglitz seemed to him three names for one and the same thing.