Lot Essay
Of all the photographs the Liebmans acquired from Alfred Stieglitz between 1915 and 1932 it is the views of New York which predominate. After all, the subject matter of a constantly changing cityscape which seemed to develop in stride with Stieglitz's vision was as appropriate for the artist and patrons to share as it was common to their lives. In certain respects Stieglitz relied as heavily on the city for his inspiration as an artist as Charles Liebman, Sr. did as a banker for his livelihood.
Stieglitz never tired of turning to the New York skyline and streets to fill his groundglass. Of all the themes which dominated his attention throughout his life - the extended portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, those portraits of his colleagues, allies and family, his cloud and nature studies and his New York views, it is the city as subject which remained constant and it is the views from his window which comprise the central theme within these. As early as 1902 Stieglitz began to photograph from his window - at first from his home and then from the back windows of '291' (1905-1917) (see figures 1 and 2 below). Later, the work would continue from An American Place (see figure 3). The series reaches its logical conclusion in some of the last photographs he made, the views taken from the apartment he and O'Keeffe shared at the Shelton Hotel in the last year they occupied it, 1935 (see: Christie's, April 8, 1993, lot 343).
From the Back Window, 291 - N.Y., Winter -1915 is one from a series of photographs Stieglitz made that winter which clearly indicate his insight to the tenets of Modernism. Sarah Greenough, in Alfred Stieglitz writes: [Stieglitz], like de Zayas, believed that direct, pure photography could reveal the objective reality of form, that it was not the function of photography to give aesthetic pleasure, but to provide visual "truths" about the world. ...It is thus no coincidence that in the winter of 1915-1916 Stieglitz made a series of extremely formal and objective photographs from the back window of '291'. Made at night and in the snow, they are reminescent of his photographs of New York from the turn of the century. But in the earlier works darkness and weather softened the rigid lines and angles of the city, making it more picturesque; in these they intensify shapes and patterns. Compositionally these pictures are also reminiscent of some of his 1900 photographs of the city: in Outward Bound, The Mauretania or The City of Ambition Stieglitz included objects, in the foreground, cropped by the bottom of the picture frame, whose shapes are repeated in the middle and background. She adds: And in their compression of space, their simplified geometric forms, and the resulting tension between two-dimensional surface and three-dimensional objects, these 1915-1916 photographs taken from 291 clearly reflect Stieglitz's understanding of cubism (Alfred Stieglitz, pp. 20-21). In 1913 Stieglitz had published reproductions of works by Cézanne, Picasso and Picabia in a Special Number of Camera Work and interestingly, followed that issue in Number 44 with a photogravure of one of his own New York views, Two Towers - New York. It is difficult to believe, however, upon viewing From the Back Window - 291, N.Y., Winter - 1915 that Stieglitz was unconcerned with aesthetic pleasure. The delicate and exquisite balance which the long tonal range afforded by platinum paper and Stieglitz's own printing mastery, reveals a scene in which New York at night is recorded comprehensively. Not only is the geometric jumble of box-like forms, from the greater dimensions of the skyscrapers themselves to the punctuated jewels of light from unattended windows presented as the product of pure metropolis but the intimacy of life also shows through. The gay billboard advertises the "Parfumerie Riviera" and in the window in the lower right reveals an interior with a dinner table ready, adorned by the warmth of a three tiered candelabra.
Prints of this particular image are extremely rare. There only two other known prints in existence, one in the "Key Set" collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and the other in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (gift of the photographer, 1924). This is the only print known in private hands.
Stieglitz never tired of turning to the New York skyline and streets to fill his groundglass. Of all the themes which dominated his attention throughout his life - the extended portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, those portraits of his colleagues, allies and family, his cloud and nature studies and his New York views, it is the city as subject which remained constant and it is the views from his window which comprise the central theme within these. As early as 1902 Stieglitz began to photograph from his window - at first from his home and then from the back windows of '291' (1905-1917) (see figures 1 and 2 below). Later, the work would continue from An American Place (see figure 3). The series reaches its logical conclusion in some of the last photographs he made, the views taken from the apartment he and O'Keeffe shared at the Shelton Hotel in the last year they occupied it, 1935 (see: Christie's, April 8, 1993, lot 343).
From the Back Window, 291 - N.Y., Winter -1915 is one from a series of photographs Stieglitz made that winter which clearly indicate his insight to the tenets of Modernism. Sarah Greenough, in Alfred Stieglitz writes: [Stieglitz], like de Zayas, believed that direct, pure photography could reveal the objective reality of form, that it was not the function of photography to give aesthetic pleasure, but to provide visual "truths" about the world. ...It is thus no coincidence that in the winter of 1915-1916 Stieglitz made a series of extremely formal and objective photographs from the back window of '291'. Made at night and in the snow, they are reminescent of his photographs of New York from the turn of the century. But in the earlier works darkness and weather softened the rigid lines and angles of the city, making it more picturesque; in these they intensify shapes and patterns. Compositionally these pictures are also reminiscent of some of his 1900 photographs of the city: in Outward Bound, The Mauretania or The City of Ambition Stieglitz included objects, in the foreground, cropped by the bottom of the picture frame, whose shapes are repeated in the middle and background. She adds: And in their compression of space, their simplified geometric forms, and the resulting tension between two-dimensional surface and three-dimensional objects, these 1915-1916 photographs taken from 291 clearly reflect Stieglitz's understanding of cubism (Alfred Stieglitz, pp. 20-21). In 1913 Stieglitz had published reproductions of works by Cézanne, Picasso and Picabia in a Special Number of Camera Work and interestingly, followed that issue in Number 44 with a photogravure of one of his own New York views, Two Towers - New York. It is difficult to believe, however, upon viewing From the Back Window - 291, N.Y., Winter - 1915 that Stieglitz was unconcerned with aesthetic pleasure. The delicate and exquisite balance which the long tonal range afforded by platinum paper and Stieglitz's own printing mastery, reveals a scene in which New York at night is recorded comprehensively. Not only is the geometric jumble of box-like forms, from the greater dimensions of the skyscrapers themselves to the punctuated jewels of light from unattended windows presented as the product of pure metropolis but the intimacy of life also shows through. The gay billboard advertises the "Parfumerie Riviera" and in the window in the lower right reveals an interior with a dinner table ready, adorned by the warmth of a three tiered candelabra.
Prints of this particular image are extremely rare. There only two other known prints in existence, one in the "Key Set" collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC and the other in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (gift of the photographer, 1924). This is the only print known in private hands.