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

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE SECESSION
SHRINE AT PITTSBURG
(Read at the February Dinner of the Photo-Secession held at Mouquin'sin New York)
I HAD SEEN them depart on their great mission, those valiant knights of
Daguerre, ‘Amfortas-Stieglitz, suffering from acute pictorialitis; Gurnemanz-
Keiley, his faithful friend and adviser; Titurel-Steichen, whose pictures were
not quite immaculate enough to prove him the best photographer in the world;
and young Parsifal-Coburn , who but recently started from Ipswich in quest of the
Grail—I had seen them depart, fully armed with kodaks and cameras, on their
perilous journey over the Alleghany Mountains to open the Secession Shrine at
Pittsburg, leaving me behind with deep yearnings in my heart. Imagine my
ecstatic joy when I received a telegram which read as follows: “The Shrine will
he opened to-morrow. Take the next train and join us. Money enclosed. We can
not do without you. We need somebody to write us up." So I sharpened my
pencil, took my dress-suitout of pawn packed both into my suit-case which had
led a dreamlike existence in the garret, as my traveling of late consisted largely
of " L " trips in the rush-hours, seized it with a grim grip, bade farewell to wife and
offspring and set forth on my nocturnal pilgrimage.
Ah, things are not all they are cracked up to be! The Pullman Palace-car
was not palace-like at all and it took me a long time to set my lankey legs aright
with the dimension of the berth. Yet finally I succeeded in propping my weary
head against the pillows, pulled up the blind and looked out into the night. Ah ,
the deceitfulness of this world! I beheld so many Post and Eickemeyer winter
scenes that, shivering , I fell asleep. They were published in book-form; no wonder
they could be met with all over in Pennsylvania! In the morning I hardly trusted
my eyes when I beheld one “Hand of Man” after the other coming toward me
down the track. The audacity of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to plagiarize
this idea! High time it is that Camera Work be copyrighted. It is not wise nor
business-Iike to have one's ideas gambol ahout in the dawn.
Often have I asked myself why Pittsburg should harbor the Secession Shrine.
I now realized why shrewd Amfortas had selected it. Is not its atmosphere symbolic
of the chivalrous deeds of Titurel and Gurnemanz? Pittsburg, rich in washed-out
effects! Pittsburg, the fuzziest, wuzziest city in the world! All its sights seemed
to have heen treated with glycerine or dolloped with gum. Its population, too,
seemed to he very appreciative. Everywhere women were washing windows and
applying the hose to sidewalk and wall in order to lend the City of Smoke a
festive appearance.
“Where could I find the Secession Shrine?” impatiently I asked the first
passer-by. He answered," I am a Pittsburger , but there you've got me; that's one
on me." And over a dozen times I applied in vain. Of course, these were only
ordinary citizens whom I asked , not pictorial photographers. They knew not the
joys of lying for days on the Katwyk Dunes or of standing for hours in pouring
rain to make an exposure. But at last a motor-man took pity upon me, picked
me up and deposited me safely opposite the Art Galleries of the Steel Trust. As I
approached them I had the esthetic gratification of seeing Titurel-Steichen flitting

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