291 (art Gallery) - The Essence of 291

The Essence of 291

In 1914 Stieglitz published a series of responses to the question "What is 291?" in an issue of Camera Work. Here are some the those writings:

Eugene Meyer responded with a free-form poem. To him 291 represented:

”An oasis of real freedom
A sturdy Islet of enduring independence in the besetting seas of Commercialism and Convention
A rest – when wearied
A stimulant – when dulled
A Relief
A Negation of Preconceptions
A Forum for Wisdom and for Folly
A Safety valve for repressed ideas
An Eye Opener
A Test—
A Solvent
A Victim and an Avenger"

J. B. Kerfoot: "291 is greater than the sum of all its definitions. For it is a living force, working for both good and evil. To me, 291 has meant an intellectual antidote to the nineteenth century...":

William Zorach: "I have visited 291 very often and to me it is a wonderful living place palpitating with red blood - a place to which people bring their finest and that brings out the finest that is within all those that come into actual contact with it."

Marsden Hartley: "A pure instrument is certainly sure to give forth pure sound. So has this instrument of 291 kept itself pure as possible that it thereby gives out pure expression."

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Famous quotes containing the word essence:

    The True is the whole. But the whole is nothing other than the essence consummating itself through its development. Of the Absolute it must be said that it is essentially a result, that only in the end is it what it truly is; and that precisely in this consists its nature, viz. to be actual, subject, the spontaneous becoming of itself.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)