Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1908 (Heft 22))

Journal of the Camera Club) which had been theretofore published for its
members at irregular intervals. His plan practically guaranteed the Club
against any expenditures greater than had been previously incurred in the
publication of this leaflet. Each member was to receive a copy of the new
magazine gratis. This scheme was eagerly accepted by the Club and thus
Camera Notes was founded. During the next five years, under the leadership
of Mr. Stieglitz, the Club and Camera Notes both prospered and both be-
came preëminent in the photographic world. The policy maintained by
Mr. Stieglitz and his friends in connection with the Club and the magazine
remained throughout consistently the same, that is to say: each was to stand
for only the very best in photography. Exhibitions open to the public
were to contain only such work as conformed to the highest standards;
criticism was to maintain its function as criticism and was not to be allowed
to degenerate into flattery nor to be used as a political means of gaining
adherents. In short, all the activities of the Club and of the magazine were
to be directed towards furthering photography; thus giving meaning to the
hitherto empty phrase: “ The object of the Club shall be the cultivation
and advancement of the science and art of photography,” which appears as
the Second Article of the Constitution of the Camera Club.
How well this policy succeeded is shown by the fact that the Camera
Club became a leading force in the photographic world. Financially and in
every other way it became a success, a result hitherto unprecedented and
thought impossible of accomplishment in New York. During its prosperity
the Club was not without its quota of malcontents, some of whom were
honestly at variance with this regime, but most of whom resented the unim-
portant rôle to which they were relegated in the Club and in the photo-
graphic world by this impersonal policy. But, so long as it attracted to the
Ciub, from far and near, workers of promise and ability the policy was main-
tained in its full vigor, and from time to time, as the exigencies warranted,
the standards were even raised. Then the game of politics was introduced
by some of the malcontents and the fun was fast and furious while it lasted.
At length, in 1901-1902, while the club was at the height of its success, its
membership and treasury filled and Camera Notes swollen to fourfold its
original size, Mr. Stieglitz and his friends became disgusted with the con-
tinual struggle and strife and determined to hand over both the magazine
and the Club to the management of the opposition. After five years of
incessant work and devotion, it seemed to Mr. Stieglitz that he had earned
the right to peace and rest, and to devote his attention to the advancement
of pictorial photography, which had ever been his hobby. It seemed to
him that to hand over the reins at the time of prosperity could not be con-
strued as being against the interests of the organization.
Freed from the labors connected with Camera Notes and the Camera
Club, though he still retained his interest therein as an ordinary member,
Mr. Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession for the purpose of further
advancing the interests of pictorial photography along the same lines that
had made the Camera Club a success. Not wishing to disrupt or in any