Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 6pm, Phyllis Rose, literary critic and biographer will appear at Books and Books to read from and discuss her latest book – a biography of photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz was one of the first American photographers to achieve international fame, and for many years, because of his active engagement in the camera club movement, he was in effect the CEO of photography in America.
As part of his strategy for establishing photography as fine art, he produced beautiful and influential photography magazines, including the legendary Camera Work. Simultaneously, he opened a gallery, 291, the first American gallery to show Picasso, Rodin, Matisse, Brancusi, and other great European modernists. After single-handedly introducing European modern art to Americans, Stieglitz devoted himself to nurturing American artists and to encouraging Americans to appreciate American art. His tireless work promoting Georgia O’Keeffe was essential in establishing her as the first respected and collected American woman artist.
In this compact and readable book, Rose argues that Stieglitz, so influential and important in his time, has been undervalued in ours. His missionary zeal for the art enterprise has been disregarded, and because his career was so long and varied, it has proved hard to position him as a photographer. Rose is a photographer as well as an award-winning biographer. With this new book, she presents a vivid portrait of a man whose work, marriage, and passion for art transformed American culture.
