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Example research essay topic: Art Students League Georgia And Alfred Stieglitz - 1,826 words

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'Well, ' He said earnestly, examining the huge canvas with its large bold strokes of deep blue on a background of fantastic yellow patches. 'It looks very strong. The paint is applied with a wild vitality. I'd say it's a man's work. ' 'I told you so. 's aid the first girl who's name was Amy. At least that's what her sweater said. 'Well the label says Stacy Conover. That's a girls name. ' Complained the second girl. 'Jan, it can be a guy's name too. ' This sort of argument occurs at almost every gallery. It isn't easy to settle either.

Art done by men does not always look masculine nor does art by women always look feminine. The question that is posed is: Can you tell the difference between a mans art and a woman's art? I personally thought it through and decided I didn't have enough information. After digging through the library's encyclopedias, art history books, biographies and folios, it was clear that the original question was too broad. It just is not possible to give an answer on this much subject matter. With this in mind I set parameters and singled out two artists to be my subjects.

Ideally the artist should have similar backgrounds as far as family and schooling. Also they need to have lived during the same period. Similar subjects and related media are best. Also they should have worked in the same locale at least for part of their careers.

Hunting down and ferreting out a pair of artists to fit this description was not easy. I finally settled on two of the most important artists of the American Avant Garde, Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz. As strange as it may seem this husband and wife shared many aspects. Enough to fit my parameters anyway. Georgia and Alfred were both born into large, wealthy, immigrant families. Georgia, the oldest O'Keefe daughter and Alfred the oldest son of the Stieglitz.

The O'Keefe's were dominated by strong aloof matriarchs while the Stieglitz were lead by the father, Edward, described as 'hot-tempered' and 'autocratic'. The pattern seems to break here but in fact it holds up better because of it. Both of our artist's families were lead by a person of their own sex. In addition to this they were closer to their other parent.

Thus the pattern holds. Both families were much concerned about the children's education. Georgia's mother Ida may have taken such a keen interest because of her aristocratic background, her father was a Hungarian count who had fled into exile for his political beliefs and her belief that she had ended her own education to early. She saw Georgia's schooling as a way to enhance her station in life. Regardless of the reasons Georgia spent many of her school days in private institutes.

She was a bright student and a brilliant artist. It was Mrs. Willis, Her art teacher at Chatham Episcopal Institute in Chatham, Virginia who allowed her the freedom she needed to continue wanting to make art. When the other girls complained about how Georgia would waist time not working, Mrs. Willis would reply, 'When the spirit moves Georgia, she can do more in a day than you can do in a week. ' Mrs.

Willis was also instrumental in convincing Georgia's mother to send her to art school. So ti was that in September 1905 Georgia was sent off to the Art Institute of Chicago to refine her skills. There she was an excellent student though she was already starting to question why she was doing the art that she was. She would also attend the Art Students League in New York. Edward Stieglitz, being accustomed to quality, chose only the best schools for his children.

Alfred was sent to Charlie Institute, a fine private school in New York City, until his parents decided it would be more democratic and less costly if he went to a public school. Alfred, however, did not suffer from this change. He, like Georgia, was supported by an understanding teacher. 'At school I refused to memorize, to recite poetry or anything else by heart. ' he said 'My teacher of elocution and declamation was in a quandary about what to do. Since I was first in my class in every other subject as well as in conduct, he must have felt he could not give me a zero, so he marked me a hundred. ' Alfred's first experience with photography was not through school due mostly to the fact that photography was relatively new and not yet accepted as an art form. It was when his mother, Hedwig, took Alfred and his siblings to have a group picture made by a fashionable New York photographer named Abraham Bogardus that he became interested. Alfred asked if he could watch while the negative was developed.

Mr. Bogardus allowed him into the darkroom and Alfred was hooked. At age eleven, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Irish, a tintype. After several sessions, the young Stieglitz and Mr. Irish became friends.

A tintype is a photographer who adds color to a black and white print to make it more natural looking. Alfred didn't agree with this practice and never colorized his prints even in later years. When Alfred expressed a desire to photograph at home, his father called a halt; the wet plates in use were too 'messy'. In 1881, Edward decided to retire and take his family to Europe in order to give his children a better education. He had hopes that Alfred would go into engineering. 'The question of whether I was qualified to to take courses in engineering seemed never to enter my father's head.

It was assumed I would know what to do. ' After a short stint in Karlsruhe to improve his German, he went to the Berlin Polytechnic. 'I was willing to make a stab at taking mechanical engineering courses. ' In 1882, Alfred entered the Polytechnic and began attending lectures. During this time, he also attended courses at the University of Berlin. All of the lectures and courses did very little for him. A chance event in 1883 turned Stieglitz down the road of his life. He came across photographic equipment in a small shop in Berlin. He purchased a box camera and all the paraphernalia needed to make prints, plus a book on exposures.

Alfred began making photographs and experimenting with light. He soon learned of a course in photography at the polytechnic and was able to get into it. 'Thus's aid Alfred 'my career in photography can be said to date from the day I entered Professor Vogel's course in 1883. ' From then on Alfred intensified his experiments and began producing many fine prints. Winning awards and contributing articles to German photographic publications he became quite well known in the European photographic community. While Alfred and his brothers, Julius and Leopold, were still in school their father took the rest of the family back to America. Alfred was called home in 1890, after his sister's death in childbirth. Edward and Hedwig wanted their children close at hand.

Once home Alfred's father began pressuring him to settle down and get a job. Edward's suggestion that Alfred sell his photographs was met with the same reaction as if he'd asked Alfred to sell his internal organs. They finally compromised when Alfred agreed to open a photoengraving studio. He took his former Berlin roommates, Joseph Obermeyer and Louis Schubert both originally from New York, as partners and with many misgivings opened his business.

With Joseph Obermeyer's encouragement Alfred began courting Emmeline Obermeyer, Joseph's sister. Eventually Alfred reluctantly asked Emmeline to mary him and in 1893 they were wed. Over the next few years and into the next century Alfred became very active in various American photographic societies. He opened the Photo-Secession Galleries in 1905. Later these stark little rooms would be known as 291 and would become famous for showing here-to-for unseen European works by such artists as Matis, Czessan, and Picasso. Three years after the gallery's opening a group of young men and women from the Art Students League entered 29 to the show.

The men deliberately provoked Stieglitz into defending Modern Art just to hear him speak. One of the group, a dark haired young woman, wandered off not wanting to be in an argument. During the Picasso show in 1914, she returned with another group who wanted to hear Stieglitz, but again she wandered off rather than talk. Two years after that she showed up again; this time alone. She and Stieglitz discussed the works on display by Hardly. She was so taken with one he let her take it home.

He told her that if she got tired of it she should bring it back. She went back to 291 to see the John Marin show that same year. Stieglitz and she spoke again for a long time. He confided some of his troubles to her and a genuine friendship began.

Of course this dark haired woman was Georgia O'Keefe. Late in 1916, Alfred displayed Georgia's first show. Her second occurred in the spring of 1917 while she was teaching at the West Texas State Normal School. Georgia was able to take three days off to see the show. It was on this visit that Stieglitz took his first photos of her. 'A few weeks after I returned to Texas, 's he said 'photographs of me came. Two portraits of my face against one of my large watercolors and three photographs of hands. ' Georgia was so impressed by them that she took them into her class for her students to see.

Georgia and Alfred may have stopped at this point had it not been for the intervention of Alfred's niece, Elizabeth. Georgia began receiving letters from Elizabeth asking her to return to New York. Finally Elizabeth offered Georgia a studio on the top floor of a 59 th street brownstone. Georgia accepted and once again journeyed to New York. Stieglitz began photographing Georgia shortly after she'd moved in. He took pictures of her face, her hands, and even some of her standing on a radiator.

They probably realized their love during this time and Alfred began contemplating divorce. He and Emmeline had not been happy together and Georgia was all he'd ever wanted. When Alfred took her to his family home at Lake George, Hedwig instantly sensed the happiness that Georgia gave Alfred. Since the family had never really liked Emmeline it was not long before they accepted the young artist. As far as Hedwig was concerned Alfred was running from a cruel wife to the love of a better woman. Alfred and Georgia married and lived in New York until Alfred's death in 1946.

Georgia then moved to New Mexico where she bought Ghost Ranch and lived and worked there the rest of her life. In 1987 she died.


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Research essay sample on Art Students League Georgia And Alfred Stieglitz

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