Alfred Stieglitz

Going to the Start

$5,000

1904
Photogravure on Japanese paper mounted to period board
Published in Camera Work, October 1905, 12:9
Among the most influential figures of early photography, Alfred Stieglitz was a master photographer as well as being an accomplished printer of photogravures. He was a theorist and, as a gallerist, the founder of CAMERA WORK, a periodical that included important writings on photography and exquisitely made reproductions of photographs.

Link: Wikipedia
Alfred Stieglitz was a major contributor to photography as an image-maker, gallery owner and publisher. Having mastered photogravure printing, he launched a new publication called Camera Work. This periodical promoted the art of photography through articles and images by leading makers of the day, whose works were often reproduced as hand-pulled photogravures that were tipped onto pages in the magazine.

Over the years, due to their high printing quality, these illustration plates have been removed from their original issues to be enjoyed as objects in their own right. This print, taken from Camera Work, Issue #3, shows jockeys and their horses experiencing quiet anticipation as they head off to the starting line. This is an eloquent image that romanticizes a day spent at the races, which at the time was a familiar part of upper-class life.