Stieglitz: Public Activity

Liberating Lens is collaborating with the Contemporary Jewish Museum on a multimedia exhibition featuring four photos by Alfred Stieglitz, and we’re inviting you to submit your own photos and reflections in response.

Submit Your Own Photo > View Submissions >

Pioneering Jewish American photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) transformed photography into modernist art through his gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City, which introduced Americans to new ways of seeing in painting, sculpture and photography, and through his journal, Camera Work (1902-1917).

In 1921 Stieglitz defined himself: “I was born in Hoboken. I am an American. Photography is my Passion. The Search for Truth is my Obsession.” Stieglitz did not mention that he was a Jew because everyone knew it. Being Jewish pushed him to the margins of society and photography freed him to innovate, to shape his personal identity, and create his own artistic community. “No two moments are alike,” he said. So he photographed clouds as “equivalents” of his
“most profound life experience.”

We invite you to submit an image inspired by Alfred Stieglitz’ reflections on his photos of clouds,
on display at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in the exhibition Beyond Belief.