Leo Stein

1917

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a man from the waist up, positioned slightly angled towards the left with his right hand resting on his hip. He has a serious expression on his face, with a long oval shape, thin lips, and prominent cheekbones. His hair is mostly bald on top but dark on the sides, and he is wearing round spectacles. He is dressed in a dark suit with a textured tie and a white collared shirt underneath. The man is holding a book in his left hand pressed against his side. In the background, there is a plain, muted wall.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 24 × 18.7 cm (9 7/16 × 7 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.410

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    49C

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    453

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1958

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March 16–April 27, 1958

Bibliography

1958

  • Bry, Doris. Exhibition of Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1958: 20.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 453.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, on mount, left center, in graphite: Leo Stein, 1917 / Exhibition 1921

Wikidata ID

Q64034923

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

In 1909 Edward Steichen took Stieglitz to 27, rue de Fleurus, the home Leo Stein shared with his sister Gertrude. Stieglitz later recalled he was “spellbound” by Leo’s monologue on modern art, but had no recollection of Gertrude, whose articles on Picasso and Matisse he subsequently published in Camera Work in 1912 (Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer [New York, 1973], 111). When Leo moved to New York in 1915 he became a frequent visitor to 291.

“I think I finally got a negative of Stein. Developed in a developer 92°—fixing bath 94°—Had to ‘ice’ Stein’s face before taking—it was so hot up there under the roof. And still one picture shows beads of perspiration on his face!!” (Stieglitz to Paul Strand, postmarked 14 August 1917 [YCAL]).

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 49.55.37

Other Collections

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

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 93.XM.25.16

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:

1921, New York (no. 43, as Leo Stein, 1917)

Lifetime Publications

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

Hutchins Hapgood, A Victorian in the Modern World (New York, 1939): opp. 242 (ill., Leo Stein)

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