OSU Museum of Art Presents Impressionist to Modernist: Milestones in Early Photography 

Monday, January 29, 2018

Through a selection of more than 70 rare, vintage prints, Impressionist to Modernist: Milestones in Early Photography will offer visitors a closer look at a pivotal period in the development of photography. 

The exhibition celebrates an intrepid group of photographers at the turn of the 20th century who led a movement to establish photography as a fine art, equal with painting, sculpture, and etching. It is organized around the electric personality of Alfred Stieglitz, photographer, champion of modern art, and famously the husband of Georgia O’Keeffe. Stieglitz, through his exhibition space, “Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,” and his exquisitely printed magazine, Camera Work, advanced the vision of the most ambitious artist-photographers. 

Featuring prints from the 1880s to the 1930s, the exhibition follows the progression of photography from the painterly, impressionistic work of Pictorialism to “straight” photography, a Modernist approach of directly representing the world free of any artificial manipulation of the image.  

Drawn from the private collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, Impressionist to Modernist presents work by American photographers Gertrude Käsebier, Alfred Stieglitz, and Paul Strand; Englishmen Peter Henry Emerson and Frederick H. Evans; and the Austrian Heinrich Kühn. It is on view at the OSU Museum of Art from Jan. 16 – April 7.  

The exhibition is organized by art2art Circulating Exhibitions, LLC. Local funding has been provided by: the OSU Museum of Art Advocates, Malinda and Dick Fischer, Jim Vallion, the OSU Museum of Art Founding Patrons and Charter Members, and the OSU/A&M Board of Regents. 

About the OSU Museum of Art
For more information about the OSU Museum of Art, visit museum.okstate.edu or call 405-744-2780.   All exhibitions are free and open to the public. The museum is located at 720 S. Husband Street in downtown Stillwater. Hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm. Open until 7 pm on Thursdays. 

Photos can be viewed here.