Arthur G. Dove

A trailblazing photographer who championed photography as a fine art, Alfred Stieglitz also played a key role in the development of modern art in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. His renowned New York galleries showed photography, painting, prints, and sculpture, focusing on an important group of American painters that included Georgia O’Keeffe, John Marin, and Arthur Dove. Stieglitz made close-up, sober yet affectionate portraits of these artists. As Daniel Catton Rich, then director of the Art Institute of Chicago, put it in 1949, Stieglitz’s portraits of his fellow artists “came through a tremendous personal understanding; they are like records of deep friendships or a series of love affairs.”

For more on the Alfred Stieglitz collection at the Art Institute, along with in-depth object information, please visit the website: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection.