Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1904 (Heft 6))

Steichen, Eugene, or White. In its future exhibitions, the Photo-Secession
must guard against routine, imitation, and mannerism. Is this a complaint
or a piece of advice? Neither. Complaint were unjust, and advice is not
needed. The older Secessionists have long ago realized what I have just
said. They can not hinder the influence of their individuality, though at
the same time they know that the real fight has only just begun — a fight in
their own ranks between the true and the false Secession.
With every human being a new world is born which did not exist
before he saw it, which will never exist again when death closes his eyes.
To represent the world, which is nothing but life as seen by the individual,
is the aim of the artist. They are the story-tellers of some foreign land
which they alone have seen and which they alone can depict for the benefit
of others. To listen to the inner voice, to be true to themselves, to obey
nobody, that is their law; and only those who in this fashion work out
their own individuality, their own innermost convictions which they share
with no one else; those who work it out in a convincing manner, without
looking out to please or to succeed; they alone are true Secessionists. And
if they produce others of the same caliber, pitilessly ignoring and casting
aside all who adhere to time-serving aims, then the Photo-Secession will be
the beginning of a great movement that will have a permanent value in the
annals of American Art.
Sadakichi Hartmann.

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.
IN PRESENTING in this number the work of Mr. Alvin Langdon
Coburn, formerly of Boston but now of New York, we are introducing
to our readers an interesting figure in American photographic life.
Possibly the youngest star in the firmament, he is, nevertheless, no novice, as
his work has attracted attention for the past four or five years, during which
time there has been noticeable a decided growth in both his conception and
execution. An indefatigable, enthusiastic worker and student, he has taken
full advantage of the opportunities afforded him to develop his talents. The
reproductions will give the reader a very fair idea of the scope and character-
istics of Coburn’slatest work. Already a Fellow of the Photo-Secession, he
was recently elected also to the Linked Ring.
" Wintry Weather,” by William B. Post, of Fryeburg, Me., is a capital
example of the snow-pictures, through which Mr. Post has made himself
famous in photography.
The two wood interiors, illustrating the article by Mr. Will A. Cadby,
of London, are the work of the author. The original prints are of much
larger size than our reproductions and are more effective, as in the reduction
a certain charm of the original seems to have disappeared. Despite this they
convey the feeling of the woods.

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