The Terminal—New York

Stieglitz assumed a legendary role as a leader and spokesperson for the Photo-Secession movement and as the publisher of Camera Work. He had a nonhierarchical approach to media, exhibiting paintings and sculpture by French and American modernist painters, such as Arthur Dove, as well as photographs, in his gallery known as “291.” While the evocative atmosphere of Stieglitz’s early pictorial style is still evident here, the photograph was taken with a small handheld 4×5 camera while walking around New York City—a method that looks forward to urban street or “straight photography.”The Johnson’s collection of Photo-Secessionist works include both American (Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Gertrude Käsebier, Frank Eugene, Clarence White, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Imogen Cunningham) and European photographers (Heinrich Kühn, Baron Adolf de Meyer). These works are extremely valuable in teaching the concept of photography as a fine art, and are often juxtaposed with contemporaneous prints by Whistler, a notable strength of the collection. (“Highlights from the Collection: 45 Years at the Johnson,” curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 27–July 22, 2018)