Alfred Maurer Possibly 1915 - 1937

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph of Alfred Maurer, a fellow American artist, using gelatin silver. Stieglitz was crucial in promoting photography as a fine art, not just documentation. He opened the 291 Gallery in New York, providing a space for avant-garde art, including photography, which challenged traditional art institutions. In this portrait, Maurer is presented as a sophisticated artist. The soft focus and careful lighting give the photograph an artistic, almost painterly, quality. Maurer's suit and bow tie indicate his bourgeois status. This was a time when modern artists tried to represent a new vision of the world, against the conservative art establishment and its hierarchies. To fully understand this image, we need to consider the history of photography, the rise of modernism, and the cultural context of early 20th-century America. Letters, journals, and exhibition catalogs can tell us more about the debates and dialogues that shaped the work of Stieglitz and his circle.