2003 marked
the centenary of the launch of the journal Camera Work. Created
by the legendary American photographer Alfred Stieglitz,
its aimed were to promote and support the work of the newly
formed
American Photo-Secession movement of art photographers.
Camera Work, a quarterly publication, was initially the vehicle
for
advancing
the cause of Pictorialism and pictorialist photographers
in America.
By 1910 Camera Work had moved away from an exclusive
focus on photographic
art to become the most important journal in America for
the introduction of French Impressionist art.
The last issues,
which
appeared in 1917,
saw a return to photography but, rather than the older-style
soft-focus Pictorialism, the journal at this time promoted
a new form of hard-edged
modernism featuring the work of Paul Strand.
Across
its 50
issues, Camera Work became the most important American
art journal
of the first half of the 20th century.
Unlike
many earlier photographic journals, Camera Work was the first
photographic journal to emphasise
visual and intellectual content
rather than just providing technical advice. It was illustrated
with hand-pulled, photogravure illustrations of the very
highest quality.
Stieglitz himself was one of the foremost exponents of
photogravure in America and considered it to be the perfect
vehicle for
bringing together images and text and disseminating photography
to a wider
audience.
The gravures of Camera Work, which were printed
on Japanese tissue to preserve the maximum tonal quality, are
among
the finest
examples of this art form. The unbound plates are frequently
sold as individual, original art works.
Throughout
its life Camera Work functioned on many levels. It began as
the vehicle
for the very best Pictorialist work.
It provided
aesthetic commentary from the foremost critics of the
day in the fields of
photography, painting, sculpture and literature while
serving as a catalogue and review for exhibitions at Stieglitz’s
gallery, 291.
Perhaps more importantly, as the former Curator
of the Royal
Photographic Society in England, Pam Roberts observed, ‘Camera
Work served as an autobiography of the creative life
of one man, its creator, editor, financier and inspiration,
Alfred Stieglitz’.
A
complete set of this rare and important journal was acquiredby
the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in 1976.
Through its
combined holdings of rare
photographic
art in the
permanent collection and books, journals and ephemera
in the NGA's
Research Library, the National Gallery of Australia provides
an unmatched resource in this country for the study of
both the history
of photography
as an art and photographically illustrated publications.
Robert
Deane, Honorary Researcher, Photography, NGA, Canberra
