Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1911 (Heft 33))

The prints purchased by the Gallery were: “The Bird-Cage” and
“Portraits—A Group,” by D. O. Hill (gravures by J. Craig Annan); “Lom-
bardy Ploughing Team,” by J. Craig Annan; “Still Life,” by Heinrich
Kuehn; “The Fan,” by Baron A. de Meyer; “Cadiz,” by Alvin Langdon
Coburn; “Arthur and Guinevre,” by Frank Eugene; “The Manger,” by
Gertrude Kaesebier; “Garden of Dreams,” by Joseph T. Keiley; “The
Painter,” by George H. Seeley; “Moonlight Impression from the Orangerie,
Versailles Series,” by Eduard J. Steichen; “The Street, Fifth Avenue,” by
Alfred Stieglitz; “The Chiffonier,” by Clarence H. White.
THANKS
The Photo-Secession herewith wishes to thank all those who, whether
represented or not, have helped make the exhibition what it was. It was a
triumph for photography and not of individuals. Special thanks are due to
the Trustees of the Albright Art Gallery and to its Director, Miss Cornelia
B. Sage, for their tireless and enthusiastic efforts on behalf of the exhibition.

The following article on Buffalo, written by Mr. Alvin Langdon
Coburn, appeared in Harper s Weekly:
The Albright Gallery of Buffalo, one of the most important art institutions in America,
has at present within its walls the finest exhibition of pictorial photographs that has ever been
held. This exhibition was originally planned during the directorship of the late Dr. Kurtz, but
his wishes have been ably carried out by Miss Sage, the present director, who has done much to
contribute to its success.
The selecting and hanging were intrusted to that body of workers that has done so much
toward the advancement of photography—the Photo-Secession; and without the indefatigable
labors of its leading spirit, Mr. Alfred Stieglitz, this exhibition would not have been possible.
Mr. Stieglitz began to use the camera in the year 1883, and his exploits and successes since that
time would need more space than I have at my disposal to do them justice. He regards this show
at Buffalo as his greatest achievement and as the culmination of the work of twenty years. In all
there are no fewer than 584 prints, representing four national groups and sixty-five exhibitors, and
out of this collection I should say, although I have not definitely counted them in the catalogue,
that rather more than half are of American origin.
To many people it will come as a surprise to learn that the so-called “modern photography”
movement had its beginning as long as sixty-seven years ago. In 1843 David Octavius Hill, a
Scotch painter, made photographic portraits that few have equalled and none surpassed in excel-
lence to this day. Now Hill worked with the most cumbersome of apparatus, with silver sensitized
paper for his negatives requiring an exposure of five minutes in sunlight to secure a result. In
fact, his technical difficulties were enormous, so great that it is almost impossible for the amateur of
to-day to understand or appreciate them, spoiled as he is with the perfection and “fool-proof”
character of modern methods. But in spite of this, Hill had one great advantage: he was not
troubled by what my friend Mr. Bernard Shaw calls “the infuriating academicisms which already
barnacle photography so thickly”. He did not have to decide whether he would belong to the
“Fuzzy School” (I am pleased to say he did not) or to the still worse “Sharp and Shiny” con-
tingent. He simply used the apparatus that was there to his hand, because in fact there was no
other. Many of his unusual effects of light are more easily understood when one knows that he
frequently employed a concave mirror to flash sunlight during his long exposures into his other-
wise too deep shadows. This is one of the things that he thought out for himself in his necessity,
and it is a great wonder to me that this device has been discarded, for I have quite recently been
making experiments in this direction with the most interesting results, using Hill’s original mirror,
of which I am the proud possessor.

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