Mr. Randolph, 1895, printed 1895/1896

Key Set Entry

• prev
• 248 of 1642 from the Alfred Stieglitz Key Set
• next

Related Key Set Photographs

Remarks

A New York bookseller specializing in religious works, Anson Davies Fitz Randolph owned a summer house in Lake George. According to Charles Caffin, Stieglitz tried to photograph Randolph on several occasions, but always the older man “stiffened at once into unnatural self-consciousness.” Setting his camera up in advance, Stieglitz “invited his friend for a stroll, chatting meanwhile of a picture he proposed to take. On reaching the camera, he expressed a doubt as to how much of a scene he should include, and begged Mr. R to stand for a moment, that he might compare the scale of the figure with that of the landscape. Without a suspicion, the gentleman placed himself, assuming his accustomed attitude, and the next moment the portrait had been secured” (“Photography as a Fine Art. II—Alfred Stieglitz and His Work,” Everybody’s Magazine 4 [April 1901], 371).

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

Stephen White Collection, II

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1896, London, Salon (no. 50, as Portrait [Mr. Randolph])
1896, Berlin (as Porträt des Herrn R.)
1896, Hamburg (no. 474c, as Portrait des Herrn R.)
1898, New York, American Institute (no. 50, as Portrait Mr. R.)
1899, New York (no. 44, as Portrait of Mr. R., 1896, platinum direct)
1902, New York (no. 141, as Portrait of Mr. R., 1895)
1903, Wiesbaden (no. 224, as Bildnis des Herrn R.)

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

“Alfred Stieglitz and his Latest Work,” The Photographic Times 28:4 (April 1896): opp. 168 (ill., Open Air Portrait)

Photograms of the Year (London, 1896): 6 (ill., Portrait of Mr. R)

Camera Notes 1:1 (July 1897): opp. 10 (ill., Portrait of Mr. R, photogravure)

Alfred Stieglitz, “A Natural Background for Out-of-Door Portraiture,” The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1898 (New York, 1897): opp. 210 (ill., Open-Air Portrait)

M. [F. Matthies-Masuren], “Alfred Stieglitz—New York,” Photographisches Centralblatt 4 (December 1898): 433 (ill., untitled)

W. I. Lincoln Adams, In Nature’s Image (New York, 1898): 81 (ill., A Open-Air Portrait)

Charles H. Caffin, “Photography as a Fine Art. II—Alfred Stieglitz and His Work,” Everybody’s Magazine 4 (April 1901): 291 (ill., Portrait of Mr. R)

Der Amateur-Photograph 15:175 (July 1901): opp. 104 (ill., Portrait des Herrn R.)

Inscription

by Alfred Stieglitz, on interleaving tissue, upper right, in graphite: Mr. Randolph, [underlined] / 1895.

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Bibliography

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 248.

Related Content