In the early years of the 20th Century it was increasingly realised that photography would not be taken seriously if it simply aped painting. Ironically, Alfred Stieglitz, a supporter of the pictorialist Photo Secession in the US, was midwife to the birth of modernism in photography and its acceptance as an art form. He devoted the final issue of Camera Work to Paul Strand (1890-1976) in 1917, together, they focussed photography on its singular qualities.
- It can present the photographer’s unique, personal vision
- It presents fragments of actuality pictorially organised
- The silver print produces a unique range of tones
- High quality prints are valued objects, not mere paper, in their own right
- It is capable of working as single images or sequences.