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Introduction | 291 Gallery | Anderson Galleries and Intimate Gallery | An American Place
The Anderson Galleries and the Intimate Gallery
In 1921, after four years without an exhibition space, Stieglitz borrowed
rooms from Mitchell Kennerley, owner of the Anderson Galleries on Park
Avenue, and mounted a show of his own work. In the following years he
organized exhibitions there of his art and that of O'Keeffe, as well as
work by other American artists. In the fall of 1925, seeking a more permanent
presence, Stieglitz rented a small room from Kennerley that he called
the Intimate Gallery and mounted monographic exhibitions there for four
years. Stieglitz structured the Intimate Gallery as a cooperative space
to encourage a sense of community among artists, to diminish the idea
of art as a commodity, and to establish a more personal relationship between
artist and patron. Insisting that he receive no remuneration, he stipulated
that a portion of the proceeds from most sales be applied to a fund that
went to cover the rental fee of the gallery.
Alfred Stieglitz, 1921-1924
In 1921, 1923, and 1924 Stieglitz held monographic exhibitions of his photographs at the Anderson Galleries. Among his most celebrated works were portraits of O'Keeffe, who had moved to New York in 1918 and begun to live with Stieglitz shortly thereafter. These photographs demonstrate his careful study of many artists he had shown at 291, including Rodin, Matisse, Cézanne, and Picasso. In addition, Stieglitz's photographs from this time revealed a significant influence of O'Keeffe's own art. Like her, he became entranced with the American landscape and for almost the first time in his career began to photograph the trees, hills, and clouds around his family's summer home in Lake George, New York.
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1923-1929
O'Keeffe's
art also changed considerably during the 1920s. Stieglitz exhibited her work
at the Anderson Galleries in 1923 and 1924 and thereafter in several solo exhibitions
at the Intimate Gallery. In 1923 when she exhibited her highly inventive abstractions
of the late 1910s and early 1920s they were subjected to extensive Freudian
interpretations. In response, O'Keeffe tried to make her art as objective as
possible and, as in Autumn Trees--The Maple, turned to photography to
ground her work in the real world. Through her close association with Stieglitz
as well as other photographers, she saw the simple but effective visual strategies
they used to infuse their depictions of everyday reality with a newfound intensity.
For example, she saw how photographs could use lenses of different focal lengths
to compress space, thus charging each plane of the picture with equal weight
and energy. Intrigued by the sharp lines and flat, clean surface of a photograph,
she rejected the short, textured brushstrokes she had used earlier in her art.
These elements combined to give her paintings an ambiguous quality: they are
clearly derived from a vision related to photography, yet strangely and often
elusively different from it.
The Seven Americans, 1925-1929
In Alfred Stieglitz Presents Seven Americans, at the Anderson Galleries
in the spring of 1925, the photographer united for the first time the artists
whom he would champion for the rest of his life. With work by Hartley, Marin,
O'Keeffe, Strand, and himself, as well as Charles Demuth and Arthur Dove, this
exhibition and subsequent ones he mounted in the Intimate Gallery from the fall
of 1925 to the spring of 1929 demonstrated the shared vision, subject matter,
and approach of the "Seven Americans." All were deeply committed to the creation
of a new art that expressed contemporary American life. Exploring a wide variety
of subjects, including landscapes, cityscapes, and abstract portraits, these
artists also extensively experimented with the materials of their art: Dove
constructed collages composed of rulers, denim, or sticks, and used both oil
and metallic paint on canvas, wood, and glass; Marin made collages using bits
of string and paper; and both Stieglitz and Strand explored several kinds of
photographic prints.