A debt that can never be paid: Stieglitz & American modernism

In 1934, Arthur Dove paid tribute to Alfred Stieglitz, writing, “I couldn’t have existed as a painter without that super-encouragement.” Indeed, it is doubtful that many other early modernists in America would have survived and flourished without Stieglitz; their history is inconceivable without him. His profound impact as artist and catalyst for modern art both here and abroad was made abundantly clear in a landmark exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, “Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries,” organized by the museum’s curator of photographs, Sarah Greenough.¹

We already know a great deal about Stieglitz, of course. He has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, as well as many specialized studies by William Innes Homer, Elizabeth Hutton...