Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1914 (Heft 47))

291
It is like a straight line rising, a line of living red, rising above gray
formlessness, and other straight lines run towards the big, straight, rising
line at many angles. Some almost run parallel, others melt gradually into it:
some meet it at right angles; others cross it like the slash of a sword. Towards
the bottom, some undefined lines of insipid colors, but only few. But all is
rising, is straight—but not the line of least resistance.
Konrad Cramer

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“Two Ninety One” was the original impulse of my going into the modern
world of art. I had been going around and seeing the conventional pictures
of the day, and in a superficial way had been very enthusiastic about them.
Then I happened at “291” and saw an exhibition of Water-Colors by John
Marin which quite startled me at first, but held me and left me eager for a
second view.
Aside from the pictures, the attitude of Mr. Stieglitz toward art and
life made a deep impression upon me. I felt that here was one pursuing an
idea for the idea’s sake.
After seeing a number of exhibitions at 291, to my astonishment, many
of the old type of pictures that had interested me, left me cold and indifferent.
All of this was done subconsciously. And now that I come to think of it,
291 has meant much more to me than I had realized, and it seems that this
exhibition of John Marin was an important event in my life.
Charles Daniel

As to “291”, it means a place where new ideas are received without
prejudice, with a sincere searching for truth. Its teaching is that we must
always live in the present and future, never be hopeless because of the great-
ness of the past, but love and reverence it for all it has given us that is
alive and vital.
Anna C. Pellew

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