From the Back-Window—291
1915/1916
Medium
platinum with palladium print
Dimensions
image: 24.7 x 19.7 cm (9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.) sheet: 35.4 x 20.2 cm (13 15/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Alfred Stieglitz Collection
Accession Number
1949.3.405
Art Historical Context
**From the Back-Window291** (1915/1916) captures a poignant slice of early 20th-century New life through the lens of Alfred Stglitz, a pioneering and advocate for photography as a fine art. Shot from the rear window of his iconic gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue—known as "291" or the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession—this intimate image is part of a series depicting the gritty tenements, fire escapes, and everyday rhythms of urban existence. Stieglitz, a leader in the Photo-Secession movement, transformed mundane cityscapes into poetic meditations, challenging viewers to find beauty in the or...
About the Artist
Alfred Stieglitz · 1864–1946
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) was a pioneering American photographer, art dealer, publisher, and advocate for the Modernist movement who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to German Jewish immigrant parents, Stieglitz spent his formative years studying mechanical engineering in Berlin, where he discovered photography in ...