lost individuality, independence, and identity of
photography. In the face of the increasingly techni-
cally dominated world, acknowledging the break-
through of photographically illustrated mass media,
and against the background of the spectacular ap-
pearance of the new European art at the Armory
Show of 1913 in New York, Stieglitz evolved into a
strong critic of Pictorialism. Pictorialism had become
incompatible with his idea of how the medium
should be approached in that it did not sufficiently
address the photographic qualities of photography.
Additionally, Stieglitz began to realize Pictorialism’s
reliance on the qualities of other, established artistic
mediums was counterproductive to the goal of the
equality of photography as fine-arts medium. Gain-
ing support from art critic Sadakichi Hartmann’s
publications from as early as in 1904, Stieglitz
began to set Pictorialism at the opposite pole of his
developing notion of ‘‘straight photography,’’ begin-
ning a debate about photographic aesthetics that
continues today. After the important 1910 exhibition
of Pictorialist photography at the Albright Art Gal-
lery in Buffalo, New York, Stieglitz dissolved the
Photo-Secession and distanced himself from his pre-
vious companions. In order to preserve Pictorialism,
Stieglitz’s former close associate, Clarence H. White,
initiated a number of Pictorialist exhibitions begin-
ning in 1911. In 1913 he founded various magazines
and in 1915 the influential club, ‘‘The Pictorial
Photographers of America’’ (PPA). Gertrude Ka ̈seb-
ier also continued working in her established Pictor-
ial style. In the United States after 1910 a new
generation of Pictorialists in fact came onto the
scene, who attempted to achieve expressive presenta-
tions without the manipulation of negatives and
special object arrangements.
Internationally Pictorialism dominated until the
end of the 1920s, in some countries until around
- This reestablishment of Pictorialism in the
United States and elsewhere was achieved through
photographic organizations whose memberships
increased rapidly at the beginning of the 1930s
despite the onset of the Great Depression. In Amer-
ica, Pictorialism endured the longest on the west
coast, promulgated primarily by American photo-
graphers of Japanese descent who emerged in the
late 1920s. They won international acclaim for their
Japanese-oriented adaptations of theNeuen Sehen
(New Vision) photographic movement emerging in
Germany and central Europe, which stressed
expressiveness. In Europe, Pictorialism lingered
the longest in Great Britain.
Nevertheless, the end of Pictorialism was already
foreseeable in the 1920s and had largely disappeared
by the 1930s. Photography was no longer considered
an inferior form of illustrated presentation, even
despite its increasing presence in news publications
and commercial applications, especially advertising.
The diversity and expressive flexibility of Pictorial-
ism had played an important role in bringing the
recognition of photography as a fine arts medium.
Franz-XaverSchlegel
Seealso:Coburn, Alvin Langdon; History of Photo-
graphy: Nineteenth-Century Foundations; History of
Photography: Twentieth-Century Pioneers; Ka ̈sebier,
Gertrude; Linked Ring; Non-Silver Processes; Nude
Photography; Periodicals: Historical; Photography in
Europe: France; Photography in Germany and Aus-
tria; Photography in Japan; Photo-Secession; Photo-
Secessionists; Steichen, Edward; Stieglitz, Alfred;
White, Clarence H.Further Reading
Billeter, Erika.Malerei und Photographie im Dialog von
1840 bis heute. Bern: Benteli Verlag, 1977.
Buerger, Janet E.The Last Decade:The Emergence of Art
Photography in the 1880s. Rochester, NY: International
Museum of Photography, 1984.
Bunnell, Peter C., ed. A Photographic Vision:Pictorial
Photography 1889–1923. Salt Lake City, UT: Perigrine
Smith, 1980.
Bunnell, Peter.Fu ̈r eine moderne Fotografie. Die Erneuerung
des Piktorialismus.InNeue Geschichte der Fotografie.
Michel Frizot, ed. Ko ̈ln: Ko ̈nemann, 1998: 311–326.
Caffin, Charles H.Photography as Fine Art. London, 1902.
California Dreamin’—Camera Clubs and the Pictorial
Photography Tradition. Boston: The Boston University
Art Gallery, 2004.
Coke, Van Deren.The Painter and the Photograph. Albu-
querque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1972.
Davison, George. ‘‘Impressionism in Photography.’’The
Photographic Timesno. 21 (16 January 1891): 487; (13
February 1891): 491.
Dickinson, Edward R. ‘‘Notes on Pictorial Photography.’’
Platinum Printvol. 1 (March 1914): 6.
Doty, Robert.Photo-secession: Photography as a Fine Art.
Rochester, NY: George Eastman House, 1960; asPhoto-
Secession: Stieglitz and the Fine-Art Movement in Photo-
graphy, New York: Dover Publications, 1978.
Emerson, Peter Henry.Naturalistic Photography: for Stu-
dents of the Art. London 1889; Reprint. New York:
Amphoto, 1971.
Fulton, Marianne, ed.Pictorialism into Modernism: The
Clarence H. White School of Photography. New York:
Rizzoli, 1996.
Gillies, John Wallace.Principles of Pictorial Photography.
New York: Falk Publishing Company, 1923.
Griffin, Michael S.Amateur Photography and Pictorial Aes-
thetics: Influences of Organization and Industry on Cultural
Production. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1987.
Hammond, Anne.Naturalismus und Symbolismus. Die pik-
torialisitsche Fotografie,InNeue Geschichte der Fotogra-
fie. Michel Frizot, ed. Ko ̈ln: 1998: 293–309.
Hansen, Fritz. ‘‘Aufgaben und Ziele der Photographie.’’
Die Linsevol. 23 (July 1927): 235–236.PICTORIALISM