Edward Steichen
Exhibition Poster, 1906
Lithograph and Halftone
19 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches.
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Poster for 'An exhibition of photographs arranged by the Photo-Secession and held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,' designed by Edward Steichen with a reproduction of his renowned...
Poster for "An exhibition of photographs arranged by the Photo-Secession and held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts," designed by Edward Steichen with a reproduction of his renowned photograph "Cover Design" and printed with halftone and lithograph in opulent metallic ink.
In November, 1905 Alfred Stieglitz, along with the help of Edward Steichen, opened the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession on the top floor of 291 Fifth Avenue. The driving-force behind the new gallery was an International exhibition of the previous year organized by Curtis Bell, president of the Metropolitan Camera Club. Bell's exhibition intended to "secure fair play for all that is good in photographic art," and with a jury of 21 famous painters, selected works from the 10,000 entries. Stieglitz vehemently disagreed with the immense scope of the exhibition and let it be known that no Photo-Secessionist would in any way be identified with the "noisy project." He had planned to hold his own international salon in order to combat the scattershot exhibit, displaying the ideas of the Photo-Secession through works of pictorial photography however, the salon plans fell through and the idea culminated in a series of smaller exhibitions at the Little Galleries. The 1905-06 exhibits were of surprising success, attracting over 15,000 viewers and even generating $2796.47 in sales. A contributing factor to the overall success were the traveling exhibitions, organized by Steiglitz at a number of major institutions throughout the Northeast. The traveling shows consisted primarily of American works, however after visiting the Little Galleries, the then director of the PAFA, John E. D. Trask, realized it would be imperative to include a photographic show on its roster of international exhibitions, already including about every other medium of fine art. Stieglitz, Steichen and photographer Joseph T. Keiley traveled to Philadelphia to install the exhibition which consisted 132 works displayed throughout the three east galleries. Written in the Philadelphia Inquirer (April 29, 1906, p.45) one critic speculates that the exhibition "is the finest collection of photographs that has ever been brought together." It is also noted in this article that Steichen's work is the cornerstone of the exhibition and his photographs are referred to as the "most remarkable single group in the collection."
"Cover Design" is a work produced by Steichen for the "Goerz Catalogue Cover Competition" of 1905. The competition hoped to encourage "the development of Artistic Photography as applied to cover and poster work," and was judged by Alphonse Mucha, as well as Alfred Stieglitz and Joseph Keiley, no less. For winning, Steichen was granted $150 and his design which "bespeaks emphatically the possibilities of Decorative Photography" was reproduced on the cover of the promotional catalog.
Prints of "Cover Design" are more common in smaller photogravure format, having been published in Camera Work No. 14, 1906 (at the time of the PAFA show.) However, we have been able to locate only one other example of this poster which was purchased by the Library of Congress from Hans P. Kraus in 2015. We believe the original Gum print is housed at MoMA as part of the Edward J. Steichen archive (II.A.28).
Some minor conservation and surface cleaning was performed in December, 2020 by Paul Messier which included metallic in-painting and mending to some small tears. A full conservation report from Messier is available.
In November, 1905 Alfred Stieglitz, along with the help of Edward Steichen, opened the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession on the top floor of 291 Fifth Avenue. The driving-force behind the new gallery was an International exhibition of the previous year organized by Curtis Bell, president of the Metropolitan Camera Club. Bell's exhibition intended to "secure fair play for all that is good in photographic art," and with a jury of 21 famous painters, selected works from the 10,000 entries. Stieglitz vehemently disagreed with the immense scope of the exhibition and let it be known that no Photo-Secessionist would in any way be identified with the "noisy project." He had planned to hold his own international salon in order to combat the scattershot exhibit, displaying the ideas of the Photo-Secession through works of pictorial photography however, the salon plans fell through and the idea culminated in a series of smaller exhibitions at the Little Galleries. The 1905-06 exhibits were of surprising success, attracting over 15,000 viewers and even generating $2796.47 in sales. A contributing factor to the overall success were the traveling exhibitions, organized by Steiglitz at a number of major institutions throughout the Northeast. The traveling shows consisted primarily of American works, however after visiting the Little Galleries, the then director of the PAFA, John E. D. Trask, realized it would be imperative to include a photographic show on its roster of international exhibitions, already including about every other medium of fine art. Stieglitz, Steichen and photographer Joseph T. Keiley traveled to Philadelphia to install the exhibition which consisted 132 works displayed throughout the three east galleries. Written in the Philadelphia Inquirer (April 29, 1906, p.45) one critic speculates that the exhibition "is the finest collection of photographs that has ever been brought together." It is also noted in this article that Steichen's work is the cornerstone of the exhibition and his photographs are referred to as the "most remarkable single group in the collection."
"Cover Design" is a work produced by Steichen for the "Goerz Catalogue Cover Competition" of 1905. The competition hoped to encourage "the development of Artistic Photography as applied to cover and poster work," and was judged by Alphonse Mucha, as well as Alfred Stieglitz and Joseph Keiley, no less. For winning, Steichen was granted $150 and his design which "bespeaks emphatically the possibilities of Decorative Photography" was reproduced on the cover of the promotional catalog.
Prints of "Cover Design" are more common in smaller photogravure format, having been published in Camera Work No. 14, 1906 (at the time of the PAFA show.) However, we have been able to locate only one other example of this poster which was purchased by the Library of Congress from Hans P. Kraus in 2015. We believe the original Gum print is housed at MoMA as part of the Edward J. Steichen archive (II.A.28).
Some minor conservation and surface cleaning was performed in December, 2020 by Paul Messier which included metallic in-painting and mending to some small tears. A full conservation report from Messier is available.