Alfred Stieglitz: the Father of Modern Photography

On January 1, we celebrated the birthday of Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946). Though born in Hoboken, New Jersey, he moved with his family to Berlin as a teenager in 1881; here Alfred studied mechanical engineering at the Berlin Technical Hochshule under the chemist Hermann William Vogel who taught him the fundamentals of the photographic process. With his first camera in tow, Stieglitz traveled throughout Europe taking lots of photos.

When he returned to the US he settled in New York, where he founded the New York Camera Club and established The 291 Gallery (located at 291 Fifth Avenue) where he introduced many European turn of the century, avant-garde artists- Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso , Henri Rousseau and Paul Cezanne--to the American public.

He was one of the first Americans to promote Photography as an accepted art form over his 50 year career.