Early in the twentieth century a new spirit appeared in American life… It was a spirit of change, of dissent–in some minds, the spirit even of revolution. Predominantly it was an upsurge of hopefulness. New directions seemed possible not only in politics and the arts, but also in the quality of life as a whole. Institutions and established ways were subjected to a critical scrutiny that had been rare in the previous generation… Experiment replaced acquiescence to a received tradition as defined by genteel ‘custodians of culture.’
–Alan Trachtenberg
Critics of Culture: Literature and Society in the Early 20th Century
Alfred Stieglitz'sThis “new spirit” is perhaps more pertinent to a biography of Alfred Stieglitz than to the life and work of any of his contemporaries working in the arts. The span of Alfred Stieglitz’s life, 1864 to 1946, saw some of the most rapid and radical transformations ever to occur in the landscape of American society and culture. Stieglitz witnessed New York transform from a sleeping giant of cobblestone streets and horse-drawn trolleys to a vibrant symbol of the modern metropolis, with soaring skyscrapers becoming visible emblems of a new age. Alfred Stieglitz’s seminal role as artist and art impresario at a time when American culture was redefining its fundamental ways of seeing, thinking and experiencing the world is the subject of the first full-length film biography of the photographer “Alfred Stieglitz – The Eloquent Eye.” The time is ripe for a major reevaluation of Stieglitz as a photographer, a seminal influence in the arts of the first decades of the century, and as an important interpreter of the emerging modern culture.read more
