de Paris (1894) were important groups that shared
the American Secessionists’ ideals.
One key way of promoting the work of these
photographers was through exhibitions, starting
with the participation of Secessionists in those pro-
moted by the traditional camera clubs, evolving to
the Secessionist group’s own exhibitions and to a
permanent gallery with a quarterly exhibit of lar-
gely Photo-Secessionist work in New York City. A
pamphlet printed by the group in December of
1902 stated:
In order that the Photo-Secession may exercise a potent
influence upon the welfare of pictorial photography,
each member will be duly advised by the Council of
the attitude which the Photo-Secession will assume
toward any important exhibition and whether it is
deemed desirable that the members of the Photo-Seces-
sion shall exhibit as a body, or individually.
However, only a month after the Photo-Seces-
sion’s founding, Stieglitz had organized ‘‘Pictorial
Photography, Arranged by The Photo-Secession,’’
for the National Arts Club in New York. This show
included works by founding members and well-
known Pictorialists Ka ̈sebier, White, and Steichen,
as well as Alvin Langdon Coburn. Portraiture, land-
scape (including urban), and the nude were the main
themes for these photographers and the techniques
were characteristics of Pictorialism. Techniques such
as carbo printing, gum printing, platinotype, or later
bromoil were used not only for their ‘‘artistic’’ effect
(in that they mimicked the look of painting and
graphic arts), but also because they would differenti-
ate the photographers using these demanding tech-
niques from the commercial studio photographer
using albumin and gelatin silver processes, or the
amateur with a Kodak.
Even as the Photo-Secessionists were seen as
promoting pictorial photography, there were dif-
ferent understandings of the term among members
of the group. Some would work in a more ‘‘docu-
mentary’’ way than others. These differences would
lead to the end of this group just before World War
I; ironically the magazineCamera Work, which had
functioned to widely disseminate and promote pic-
torial photography, also helped lead the way to
that style’s demise. In 1916Camera Work pub-
lished the ‘‘straight photography’’ as seen by Paul
Strand, and ‘‘abstract photography’’ by former
Secessionist Alvin Langdon Coburn, leaving such
figures as Gertrude Ka ̈sebier to continue to carry
the torch for what was increasingly seen, with the
rise of Modernism, as an outmoded style.
Those generally referred to as Photo-Secessionists
indicate the 13 founding members as well as those
invited to join, but also those who aligned them-
selves with the group, which as stated in its organiz-
ing papers required only that the photographer
believe in the ideals as stated by the organization.
Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), as instigator of the
group, is the best-known Secessionist, although his
subsequent eschewal of the fuzzy, Pictorialist look
so common in the work of the Secession and align-
ment with the Modernism of Paul Strand and others
later overshadowed his primary role in this history.
Before launchingCamera Workin 1903 Stieglitz had
a wide experience publishing photography maga-
zines. He was the editor of American Amateur
Photographer and later of the Camera Club of
New York magazine,Camera Notes. He was respon-
sible for devotingCamera Workand his exhibition
space, the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession
(also known as ‘‘291’’) not only to photography,
but also to modern painting. Even during the years
of Photo-Secession activities, Stieglitz began to turn
to photography with a great concern with ‘‘truth.’’
Best known of his post-Secessionist works are his
‘‘equivalents’’ (photographs of clouds) and the por-
traits of his wife, painter Georgia O’Keeffe.
Edward Steichen, born in Luxembourg in 1879,
studied photography and painting in the 1890s in
the United States. He was only 21 when his work
was presented to the European public in the 1900
exhibition ‘‘New School of American Photogra-
phy,’’ held at the Royal Photographic Society in
London and later in Paris. In Paris he met Robert
Demachy, who, like Steichen was a practitioner of
gum printing. In 1902 he held a one-man show at
‘‘La Maison des Artistes’’ in Paris, including not
only photographs, but also paintings. On his return
to the United States he was a co-founder of the
Photo-Secession, and 10 of his photographs were
published in the second issue ofCamera Work.He
can be seen as the Secessionist whose work has
greater roots in painting, particularly Symbolist
painting. Steichen went on to an eminent, wide-ran-
ging career after the demise of the Secessionist
group, including organizing the seminal exhibition
The Family of Manin 1955. When he died in 1973,
he could be considered one of the most important
and popular photographers of the twentieth century.
Like Steichen, Gertrude Ka ̈sebier (1852–1934),
studied painting during the 1890s. She was unique
in this group in that she was a highly successful,
established professional studio photographer. She
also had exhibited widely, receiving her first solo
exhibition at the Camera Club of New York in- Along with Photo-Secession co-founder Eva
Watson-Schu ̈tze, she was the rare woman asso-
ciated with the group; she was also the first
PHOTO-SECESSIONISTS