Alfred Stieglitz exhibit debuts at Art Museum

By Lauren McGlone
Collegian Editor
September 26, 2007

The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building is set to premiere a brand-new exhibit based on the photography of Alfred Stieglitz.

Located across the street from the museum’s main building, the Perelman is presenting Alfred Stieglitz and the Philadelphia Museum of Art now through Jan. 31, 2008.

In the Julien Levy Gallery, the exhibit will feature select works among the collection of about 600 pieces donated to the museum by Stieglitz and friends and family. The exhibit highlights the life and career of Stieglitz through his photography and collections in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Stieglitz, a 20th century American photographer, captured the shift of New York City from an old-time locale of horses and carriages to a new-age, urban hub of creativity and sophistication.

In his family home at Lake George in New York, Stieglitz used the houses, barns and land around the estate as subjects of his photography.

One of his most famous series is Equivalents, which illustrates the movement of clouds at the lake and captures the abstractness that represents emotions and states of mind. Originally displayed at the Anderson Galleries in New York, Equivalents offers dramatic and emotional change through the depiction of cloud configurations and orientation.

According to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Web site, Stieglitz’s use of clouds in Equivalents was “an element of the everyday world…used to evoke a sensation or mood not directly tied to its meaning as an object.”

Another element utilized by Stieglitz was poplar trees, a symbol of human existence. The museum’s Web site supposed Stieglitz used the decline of poplar trees as a “reminder of his own lessening vitality in his late sixties.”

Stieglitz also used photographed portraits, but only those of people most important to him, including O’Keeffe and Philadelphia artist Dorothy Norman.

According to Philadelphia City Paper, Stieglitz “was instrumental in elevating photography from a simple tool for formal portraiture into an accepted form of fine art by experimenting with printing techniques.”

The Perelman Building is featuring the Stieglitz exhibit along with several other displays which include Designing Modern: 1920 to the Present, From the Renaissance to the Surreal: Gifts to the Library and Archives, A Passion for Perfection: James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, Ralph Rucci and finally A Conversion in Three Dimensions: Sculpture from the Collections.

According to the art museum’s Web site, the recently renovated and expanded Perelman is part of “a major plan to dramatically enhance and modernize” the museum.

The Perelman Building is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. A shuttle is available to transport patrons from the main building to the Perelman.

For more information about Stieglitz’s life, career and works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, visit www.philamuseum.org.

mcglonel1@lasalle.edu