291 (art Gallery) - Later Years (1913-1917)

Later Years (1913-1917)

Starting in 1913 Stieglitz began to express an increasing amount of frustration over the changes that were happening in the world at that time. He wrote "Much of the enthusiasm that had existed at 291 gradually disappeared because of the coming war. Close friends seemed to fall by the wayside." Stieglitz was especially troubled because his parents came from Germany, and he still had many close friends there. While he did not sympathize with the German war efforts, he "could not see Germany as all wrong and the Allies as all right.". At the same time, because of the depressed economy attendance at the gallery sharply declined and subscriptions to Camera Work dropped off. To make matters even worse, the small corps of volunteer workers at the galley all but disappeared as people joined the armed forces or had to take on other jobs to help make ends meet.

Once again it was Haviland who came to the rescue. In early 1915 he told Stieglitz that 291 was in a rut, and something bold was needed to bring it back again. He assembled a close circle of relatively well-off friends, including Agnes Meyer and Dorothy Norman, and together with Stieglitz they came up with the idea of publishing a new magazine. They decided that this time it would be not only a magazine about art but a work of art itself, printed in a limited edition with very high quality paper and reproductions. The new magazine, which they all agreed should be called 291, appeared in March, 1915, to critical acclaim. Twelve issues of 291 were printed over the next fourteen months, showcasing some of the most avant-garde art and design of the times.

Unfortunately, the magazine did little to revive the status of the gallery. Stieglitz continued to present some outstanding shows, but the overall effect of the mounting war tension on the economy could not be overcome. In 1916 an event happened that further sealed the fate of the gallery: Stieglitz met Georgia O'Keeffe. He immediately became fascinated with her, and over the next year he began to devote his energy toward a relationship with her and away from the daily toils of running the gallery.

In June, 1917, only two months after the United States declared war on Germany, Stieglitz closed 291. He made a photograph called 'The Last Days of 291" (National Gallery of Art, Alfred Stieglitz Collection) which symbolized his feelings at the time. It depicts a model of a young soldier, armed with a sword and a broom, protecting works of art behind him. To his side is an older, bandaged warrior looking on, possibly representing Stieglitz himself as someone who had been wounded in the battle to protect the art that must now be guarded by a new generation.

Later Stieglitz would return to New York to run two more galleries. From 1925-29 he directed the Intimate Gallery, showcasing the work of American artists, including Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, John Marin, Paul Strand, Charles Demuth, and Georgia O'Keeffe, who by then had become his wife. In 1929 he opened "An American Place", where he presented the work of the Seven Americans (Hartley, Marin, Dove, Demuth, O'Keeffe, Strand and Stieglitz) until his death in 1946.