Photo-Secession

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The Photo-Secession movement was a group of photographers led by Alfred Stieglitz in the early 1900s that helped to raise standards and awareness of art photography.

In 1902 Stieglitz formed an invitation-only group, which he called the Photo-Secession, to force the art world to recognize photography "as a distinctive medium of individual expression." Among its members were Edward Steichen, Gertrude Kasebier, Clarence White and Alvin Langdon Coburn. Photo-Secession held its own exhibitions and became the publisher of the journal, Camera Work. The group also operated the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession.

The pictorialist style argued that art photography needed to emulate the painting and etching of the time. Pictorialist images were black & white or sepia-toned. Among the methods used were soft focus, special filters and lens coatings, heavy manipulation in the darkroom, and exotic printing processes.

Photo-secessionists thought that the strength of a medium was found in its purity, hence straight photography. Images were not manipulated in the darkroom, aside from cropping. Content of the images often referred to previous work done by other artists, especially Greek and Roman art. Images often contained stylistic consistency such as dramatic lighting, perspective, geometric, monochrome/black and white, and high contrast.