Avant-Garde Magazine  

Copyright 1994, 2008  Jerry Cargill,

Written at Columbia College Chicago, 1994.

Alfred Stieglitz's Little Galleries Of The Photo Seccession was one of the first American galleries to promote modern art. For that reason; for the other activities within its walls; and for the people who ran and frequented the gallery, made Stieglitz's gallery one of the most historically significant galleries of its time in New York. Stieglitz eventually changed the name of The Little Galleries Of The Photo Seccession to 291. Many believe that 291 Fifth Avenue was the address, but this is not the case. Indeed, the original Little Galleries Of The Photo Seccession was at 291 Fifth Avenue. But then the landlord jacked up the price of the rent so much that Stieglitz, despite his personal resources and resourceful friends, was forced to move across the way to a smaller place. Even though the new space was actually 293 Fifth Avenue, Stieglitz dropped the old name and renamed it 291 not so much as to denote location but to refer to the spirit and philosophy of 291.

By Stieglitz maintaining 291 as an international haven for avant-garde artists to show and gather, he assured that 291 would be a location of immense significance for the establishment of an American avant-garde art scene which would be based in New York. The fate of modernism in America was created in the walls of 291 where it simultaneously began to unfold. It was the art that hung on the walls as much as the curator / owner of this gallery and his associates which made 291 a significant force. It was also the activities of the artists who frequented the establishment. 291 became the headquarters of Camera Work. After the beginning of WWI, three artists of the Stieglitz circle (Paul Haviland, Agnes Ernst Meyer and Marius De Zayas), approached Stieglitz about producing a publication that would encapsulate the spirit, the ideology of 291.

After the gallery itself this publication was called 291.

The editors of 291 were heavily influenced by the philosophical, political, gender, psychological and of course, aesthetic issues of the day. There were of course literary influences, the many other alternative magazines in New York and Europe which were the predecessors to 291. The Little Galleries, and then 291 was the headquarters for Camera Work. It is widely accepted that 291 was a continuation of that journal. This is because Stieglitz and others in his circle were publishing both and that 291 came about at around the same time that Camera Work ceased publication (Leavens 1981). 291 was a continuation of The Little Galleries Of The Photo Seccession, but 291 was a project apart from Camera Work. The Stieglitz circle was also heavily influenced by Apolinaire's magazine Les Soirees De Paris (Tashjian 1975). There was also the flood of "little magazines" in New York at the time. These magazines were put out by people involved in the avant-garde art scene in New York at the time. And similar ideas were expressed in Camera Work and were to be expressed in 291. The quality of work in 291 as well as the care that went into the production of each issue follows the traditions of camera work. 291 contained high- quality reproductions and was available on a good quality paper or for a considerable charge high- quality Imperial Japanese paper. There was also the 291 edition of Camera Work which contained samples of various participants in the 291 gallery. However, the group that would eventually create and edit 291 was a small sub- group from within the Stieglitz circle: Marius De Zayas, Paul Haviland and Agnes E. Meyer.

In 1915 Paul Haviland and Marius De Zayas approached Stieglitz at 291 and explained: "We and Agnes Meyer feel that 291 is in a rut. The war has put a damper on everything" (Norman 1990). The war in Europe had stunted production of those involved in the humanities in the countries involved. The flow of art to the United States, and so to 291 was therefore but a trickle compared to previously. So there needed to be something to occupy those involved with the gallery, something new, that would also keep people outside the circle focused on 291 (And

focused on New York and the US). The group wanted to have a magazine that was, in Stieglitz's words: "dedicated to the most modern art and satire....I had always hoped that there would be a magazine in the United States devoted to true satire..." (Norman 1990). The group (Haviland, De Zayas, Meyer and Stieglitz) soon met and quickly agreed to name the magazine after the gallery and have the gallery as its headquarters. There were no ostensible statements of intent made by the group that would describe the editorial ideology right at the beginning. When the group met to establish the editorial policies of 291 they decided that instead of majority rule, any one of them who had an idea they felt worthy of being published would be published. With this method of publishing, 291 editorial meetings took less than 10 minutes (Norman 1990). 291 had some fundamental ideologies which were shared with the gallery 291. After that 291 was mostly a reflection of the work and the interests of it's four editors (five after Picabia got in the picture), as they had free reign to print what they wished. Therefore, in order to get a full picture of the editorial ideology of 291, I think that it is important that we take a good look at some of the individual personalities, activities and ideologies of each of the editors.

The 291 gallery continued to uphold the mission of promoting modern art in America. 291 also sought to educate the American public about what was going on in Europe. 291 was a forum for artists, intellectuals and the like to meet and discourse. It was a place that Stieglitz intended to be like a laboratory. The aesthetics of 291 was a dualistic ideology: one was a scientific rationalistic approach, to which Marius De Zayas and Agnes Meyers subscribed, and an intuitive approach, supported mainly by Stieglitz, (contrasting with his somewhat rigid character and scientific education). Politically, 291 was a haven and an inspiration for anarchists and their sympathizers (Leavens 1983). Humor played an important part at 291. Once at a Cezanne exhibit Stieglitz hung a forged watercolor Cezanne which he had painted for the occasion. Apparently Stieglitz's watercolor attracted much positive attention at the opening (ibid.). In another instance De Zayas staged a puppet show depicting serious issues of everyday life. Primitivism, was an important genre at 291. Primitivism covers the area of children's' art and craft of

third world artisans. De Zayas had written an entire book on the subject of African art and its role in the avant-garde of his day. Many modernists at that time were deriving their work from African tribal art and there were several shows at 291 exhibiting genuine African art and European Modernism derived from African. But neither made it into the pages of 291 until the very last issue which featured an article on the topic by De Zayas, a photograph of an African mask and work by Picasso and Braque.

Alfred Stieglitz's character lent to his effectiveness as a revolutionary in American modernism. Stieglitz was raised by parents who taught him an appreciation for culture. Alfred's father was an amateur painter. In the Stieglitz house young Alfred had access to fine literature, art and had opportunities to meet numerous personalities from art, literature, and intellectual communities who were his parents' guests. A spirit of experimentation, fundamental to the editorial ideology of 291, was fostered early in Stieglitz through his years studying Engineering at Berlin Polytechnic.

Once in America, Stieglitz started his activities to foster interest and excellence in the fine arts. He sponsored contests in the New York Camera Club and wrote for Camera Notes. In Camera Notes Stieglitz sought to distract and repel the amateur photographer and to gather for his side talented, serious professionals in his quest to win photography the imprimatur of being considered a fine art. His relentless demands for high quality work and his devaluation of amateur work at Camera Work culminated in his being pressured to resign. But as it usually works out for talented, ambitious people, this only served as a window of opportunity for Stieglitz, as he then had the opportunity to publish Camera Work, start the 291 gallery and of course start publishing 291. Stieglitz's group, the Photo- Secessionists were decidedly anti- academic, against the establishment and against the tastes of the bourgeois (Leavens 1983). In 1912 Stieglitz had commented on the ideology of the Photo- Seccession: "a revolt against all authority in art, in fact, against all authority in everything" (ibid).

In 291 (March 1915, No. 1) Stieglitz wrote an essay: One Hour's Sleep, Three Dreams. This essay was an accurate account of three of Stieglitz's own dreams. This was the first and only article in 291 directly related to investigations of the subconscious and was far before the start of surrealism. In the first decade of the 20th century the field of psychoanalysis was widely expanding in Europe, central Europe especially. It is unknown what or who Stieglitz had encountered from the realm of psychoanalysis while traveling through Germanic regions. It is nonetheless interesting that he felt that his dreams were worthy of journaling and subsequent publishing. We cannot deny the foresight of Stieglitz in his decision to print this article.

One interesting thing about Stieglitz and 291 is that there was no photographs, nor any articles about photography until the number 7-8 September- October issue which contained the photogravure of the Steerage, and two articles about The Steerage by Haviland and De Zayas. This doesn't seem so odd when one recalls that there was one issue of Camera Work that had no photographs in it. This is consistent with Stieglitz's ardent promotion of all types of modern art but contrasts with his years of campaigning to gain photography the recognition it deserved along with all the other media of modernism.

Stieglitz's aggressive and somewhat abrasive personality caused him to rub quite a few people the wrong way in executing his missions for modernism. As with Camera Work he wanted to make sure that 291 only got into the hands of the right people. 291 was passed around in Europe to other artists by Stiechen, Picabia and other of Stieglitz's trusted associates. Brutal honesty bordering on outright snobbery had been a part of Stieglitz's career since Camera Work, where he is remembered often responding to undesired photographic submissions as "technically perfect but pictorially rotten". He had on several occasions ruthlessly criticized what he saw as a somewhat philistine and anti- intellectual American consciousness. Stieglitz was once quoted as saying: "I am told that once upon a time there was a man named Diogenes who was

A page from the first issue of 291 (March 1915) with Guilliame Apollinaire's word art piece: Voyage. Underneath is Stieglitz's article One Hour's Sleep Three Dreams.

looking for an honest man...I, too am on a search, maybe more difficult than the one of Diogenes, I happen to be looking for an intelligent American" (Haines 1982).

Despite his elitism, Stieglitz of course did have a legitimate agenda. Behind his snobbery was a desire to enrich our culture and to educate people about the wonders of this new movement, modernism. This was one of the principle ideologies of 291 which also was an ideology for the journal 291. This mission to promote modernism was shared by the editors of 291.

Probably the most outspoken of the original group of editors was Marius De Zayas. A

native of Mexico, Marius De Zayas started his relationship with Stieglitz, writing for Camera Work. His caricatures hung in 291. Regarding ideology De Zayas was more of an iconoclast than a promoter. In his book about African art he slammed those modern artists who he felt were mindlessly aping the African styles. He wrote a lot about what he felt was the twilight of art, the end of traditional art in all aspects. He was very much a Futurist in his belief that machinery and industry would usher in a new golden age. This was consistent with the striving for a scientific approach to art, in accord with Agnes Meyer and related to Picabia's machine drawings.

De Zayas was sort of a correspondent for Stieglitz, supplying him with information about the avant-garde art scene in Paris. He lived in Paris for a while where he hooked up with Picasso and Stiechen. He was indeed interested in the cause of modernism. And like Stieglitz, he felt that Americans were really missing the boat regarding modernism, compared to the people of Europe. He also felt that the way to promote modernism in this country was through exposure in publica

tions. In addition to his writing De Zayas was a caricaturist. His cover of the March 1915 issue is a geometric, but very cartoon- like face of Stieglitz (previous page), with the caption: "291 throws back its forelock". De Zayas' cover refers to the self- parodying sense of humor of 291, and the wit of it's editors.

In the 1915 July- August 291, De Zayas wrote an article: "New York N'a Pas Vu D'abord", which was printed in French, with an English translation directly below it. The fact that this article is in French is indicative of the cosmopolitan ideology of 291/291. In this article De Zayas praises Stieglitz for his efforts with the Photo Secessionist movement and commends him for his having taken chances: "He has married America like a man who is not afraid of consequence". In this article De Zayas scolds America for not welcoming modernism with open arms when it was presented by Stieglitz. He accused American intellectuals of "wishing to impregnate...believing themselves stallions when they when they are but geldings". In the next sentence he states that the object of the intellectuals' desire is New York, "who is like a careful married woman or circumspect young girl...she has taken all possible precautions against assimilating the spirit of modern art". De Zayas, in this article, not only salutes Stieglitz, but poetically expresses some of the central ideologies of 291.

Paul Haviland, a Frenchman educated at Harvard, had given Stieglitz financial support in starting the gallery 291 and had assisted Stieglitz in connecting with Picasso. Haviland was an associate editor of Camera Work,as well as one of the original editors of 291. In the first 291 (March 1915) Haviland wrote another article which seeks to describe the essence and the ideology of 291. This article, 291, is a fictional interview between himself and "The Professor", who answers all his questions about 291. One of "the professor's" explanations about 291 is that "291 represents nothing definite; it is ever growing, constantly changing and developing". The editors wanted 291 to be an experiment in which more experiments could take place. Thus 291 was to be something that would change as the times and the situation required.

The progression of the avant-garde, according to "The Professor", was to occur likewise with a mentality of scientific rationalization (Tashjian 1975). This description of 291 was as much a plan for the future of 291 as it was a description. For the editors somewhat differed in their own personal ideologies, and promoted them in their articles, yet they all made up one central ideology intersecting in the publication.

In Agnes Meyer's essay "How Versus Why", which appeared in the first 291, she seeks to establish a scientific model of production and criticism. Meyer connected feeling with older, classical schools of art and stated that the avant-garde as it is existing in an age of scientific and technological growth, must be seen through an objective and scientific eye if it is to progress. Considering their era, she stated that she believed that they were participating in the "Scholastic" period of art. On top of this she slammed American art criticism as: "the most unintelligible twaddle". Her statements do not express, as widely, the opinions of those at 291 as Haviland's or De Zayas' articles mentioned above. Stieglitz, for example, would have easily agreed with the part about American criticism but would have totally disagreed with most of the other statements by Meyer calling for detached objectivity, as he was interested in psychology and metaphysics. However, Meyer's article is consistent with the passion for machinery and technology which was shared by all as well as the passion for experimentation.

Francis Picabia, who later joined the publication, was established in Paris and was good friends with Duchamp and Apolinaire (Norman 1980). Picabia and Stieglitz met for the first time in 1913 at the Armory show in New York (ibid). Picabia and Stieglitz got along fine right from the start as they shared a passion for humor and satire, and it seems that their personalities were similar (ibid). In 1915 Picabia was enlisted in the French army. His unit was on it's way to the Caribbean but the way

stopped in New York. Picabia calmly left the boat and went to see Stieglitz. Picabia quickly became engrossed in the activities at 291, including publishing 291, and never returned to his ship.

Picabia designed several covers and graphics for 291 as well as some writing. His images depict machinery or components of various sorts which stand as referents to people. On the cover of the 5-6 July/August 1915 issue is Picabia's portrait of Stieglitz as machinery. Depicted is a camera with a flaccid bellows that fail to extend all the way to the lens. Attached to the camera is a gear shift in the neutral position and a brake which is engaged. Above the lens is "ideal" in Old German script. To the left of the lens is the phrase (in French) "This is Stieglitz" and below that "Faith and love". Picabia salutes Stieglitz for his dedication and passion but at the same time criticizes him for failing to actualize his ideal through photography. Similarly, Paul Haviland was depicted as a gas lamp, insinuating that Haviland's activities and mode of thought were obsolete in that age. Such imagery was an approach to art called pensee pure (pure thought). Pensee pure was an approach to art originating in Europe which was "the objectifica

tion of the subjective", another way of associating the making of art with scientific method, where the artist recorded his psychic reactions to the subject in abstract symbols (Leavens 1983). This image is also an example of the freedom of expression at 291 (despite politics) but was also a sign of the growing rift separating Stieglitz from the others at 291/ 291. Picabia had also made portraits of others at 291, including himself (lower left). That he used mechanical imagery and schematics to represent his subjects is consistent with the passion for machinery and the hopes invested in it that it might assist in ushering in a new and better age, Futurist ideas shared by the editors at 291. In his book Skyscraper Primitives Dickran Tashjian inter

p

rets Picabia's machine drawings as a graphic fusion of satire and experimentation. His drawings also epitomized the anti- art establishment sentiment shared by those at 291. In the 7-8 September- October 1915 issue of 291 (the The Steerage issue) Haviland and De Zayas elaborated on Picabia's machine- portraits, regarding the human as machine: "She has... a nervous system through which runs electricity. The phonograph is the image of his voice; the camera the image of the eye."

Picabia, in the last issue of 291, with his article "We Live In

A World..." departs in a positive note: "...the painting of today is the most truthful and the purest expression of our modern life". Although Francis Picabia came into the picture after 291 began, he turned out to be a major figure at 291, and continued the ideology of 291 with the publication

391 (in Paris) after 291 ceased publication.

Besides the individual articles which appeared in 291, there were in the first three issues, groups of tiny articles (between 2- 5 column inches) which addressed current events and popular ideologies. These articles were not authored and there was no record left that tells us who, exactly, is responsible for these articles. We can, due to the consistency in ideology reflected by these articles, assume that they were a group effort. While individual writers at 291 wrote articles trying to define 291 or plot a course for it to follow, these small, anonymous yet powerful articles provide a very thorough picture of the interests and ideologies of the people of 291.

In the first issue (March 1915), there were some definitions of terms which were important in assisting one to understand the editors' ideologies. Simultanism, one of the terms defined, was a concept that was central to the cubists. Simultanism is simply when several things are occurring at once: as in cubism where different angles of the subject are painted at once. Also defined is the musical concept of sincerism. Sincerism is a method of composition, developed by Alberto Savinio, where music is not made form life but from music. The discussion of this topic is one of the only references to music in 291. There were only four of these smaller articles regarding different aspects of the music scene at that time. There is little written historically about the Stieglitz circle and music. There were a lot of people in the Stieglitz circle reading the writings of Kandinsky and appreciating his art. It is a shame that plans for an exhibition of Kandinsky's work fell through. If he came to New York he would have generated some interest in his friend Schoenberg, which might have got more interest generated in music. One of the other three articles, however, addresses the concept of color music, related to Wagner, Schoenberg and Kandinsky. There is also a short satirical commentary about the success of Matisse and the acceptance of him in the States: "A certain dealer had a show of Matisses, but he said : 'the masses only laughed'. Stieglitz has had two exhibitions of Matisse's work and he also says `the masses laughed'. And he adds that masses=m asses= 1000 asses".

There are many more of these tiny articles in the second issue (April 1915). The article Motherhood A Crime discussed a current event where a young woman kills herself after finding out she was to be a mother. The editors harshly criticize society for it's hypocrisy in making illegitimate pregnancy such a grave shame. This article leaves no doubt about the group's feminist sympathies. The group's feelings about the war, and their disgust with the American masses is succinctly expressed in the article Thumbs Down. In this article they mention the fact that bullfighting is outlawed on US soil. Then there is some mention of the deaths of two stuntmen while performing their acts. They contrast this with the perceived indifference of the American general public regarding the deaths of so many innocent people in Europe. The article ends with the phrase: "but the public must be entertained".

In the third issue there were fewer of these articles. In the May 1915 issue there is another article denoting changing attitudes toward women. It was an article named Maternity. In this article a female laborer is expressing her strong character by vicariously fighting the Germans through her son, and being strong willed enough to keep her head up and continue to work.

At 291, and in the publishing of 291, there was encouraged: experimentation and an ideology which valued very highly artistic expression and the freedom of the individual to express themselves. It was these ideologies, however, that eventually led the editors off to do their own thing.

Haviland went back to Paris and did not participate in the American art world after that. De Zayas left Stieglitz and eventually started the Modern Gallery. Although the Modern Gallery was De Zayas' own venture he had consulted Stieglitz, Haviland, and Meyer for ideas and opinions (Leavens 1983). Meyer, after 291, did very little in the art world but did keep in contact with De Zayas and gave him moral and financial support with his gallery. Starting without being

established in the American art scene, or having a significant amount of money as Stieglitz did when opening his gallery, De Zayas had to shift much of his focus onto the commercial aspects of running a gallery. The Modern Gallery became popularly accepted as the hub of modernism. But it could not quite function the same as 291 or operate by all the 291/291 ideologies as it would not be good for business to be experimental and so anti- bourgeois.

The common complaint with the editors upon their abandoning Stieglitz and 291 was that Stieglitz was becoming rigid and unwilling to consider newer artists and concepts. This passage from some correspondence from Meyer to De Zayas clearly shows how far they had drifted from Stieglitz: "My advice to you is this: Have nothing more to do with Stieglitz. Never see him, never think of him. That chapter should be closed for all of us. To have known S. Is very beneficial, to let him hang on is sure destruction" (Leavens 1983).

Picabia went back to Spain. He and his wife subsequently published 391 in Barcelona, which true to it's name was anti- art, anti- authority and otherwise iconoclastic. Picabia even published some of his machine drawings in 391. In Paris Michel Tapies published 491. Up to 1959 came 591 and 691. Sometime in the early 1960's a 791 was started but never made it to the presses. Among the flood of other Dada magazines which were published in the years after 291, 391 and Tristan Tzara's Dada 3 are considered to be the publications which truly continued 291 ideologies (ibid).

Stieglitz, left alone, with debts piling up from the lacking anticipated sales of 291, had no choice but to cease publication and go on to other projects.

It could be argued that if the practiced 291 ideology of promoting modernism was successful, that this left an open opportunity for other Europeans like Duchamp to come over, pick up where 291 stopped and assist in expanding the modern art scene in New York. That this was a

hospitable environment to produce modern art in the coming years made it a first choice for refuge artists not only during W.W.I but during W.W.II. The fact that so many artists left Europe around the time of W.W.II, came to New York and stayed here made New York the hub of the avant-garde, which continues to be the case to this day. If all the above is true, then although 291 was relatively short lived it`s ideologies are fundamental to the shape of contemporary Western art.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abrahams, Edward (1986). The Lyrical Left : Randolph Bourne, Alfred Stieglitz, And The

Origins Of Cultural Radicalism In America. Charlottesville: University Press Of Virginia.

Haines, Robert, E (1982). The Inner Eye Of Alfred Stieglitz. Washington: University Press Of America.

Homer, William Innes (1977). Alfred Stieglitz And the American avant-garde. Boston: New York Graphic Society.

Leavens, Ileana, B (1983). From "291" To Zurich: The Birth Of Dada. Ann Arbor: UMI Re search Press.

Tarshis, Gerome (1979). Alfred Stieglitz, Editor. Portfolio, Aug./Sep. 50- 56.

Tashjian, Dickran (1975). Skyscraper Primitives. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.

291. New York : Arno Press (1972). No. 1-12; Mar 1915- Feb. 1916.

Zilczer, Judith (1984). The Aesthetic Struggle In America, 1913- 1918, Abstract Art And

Theory In The Stieglitz Circle. (Doctoral dissertation, University Of Delaware 1975). University Microfilms International.