A collection of American pictorial photographs as arranged by the Photo-Secession and exhibited under the auspices of the Camera Club of Pittsburg, at the Art Galleries of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, February MDCCCCIV
Such photographs emphasized the role of the photographer as craftsman
and countered the argument that photography was an entirely mechanical
medium. Alfred Stieglitz
was the most prominent spokesperson for these photographers in America,
and in 1902 he and several like-minded associates in the New York
Camera Club—including Gertrude Käsebier (33.43.132), Alvin Langdon Coburn (1987.1100.13), and Frank Eugene (55.635.12)—broke
away from the club to form what they dubbed the Photo-Secession. The
group held exhibitions of their work in a space donated by Edward Steichen
called the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (known familiarly as
"291" for its address on Fifth Avenue) and published a quarterly
magazine edited by Stieglitz entitled Camera Work.