An examination of the great photographer's role in and impact on the American avant-garde from 1900 to 1917 details the achievements of and the interrelationships among Stieglitz's photographer and painter associates

The beautiful and seductive images of an overlooked movement, reproduced in their full tonal range. Much has been written about Alfred Stieglitz and his role in establishing photography as an art. Little attention, however, has been paid to the pictorial photographers who followed Stieglitz, among them Imo Jean Cunningham, Edward Weston, Clarence H. White, and a host of others -- those who, in a widespread movement, approached photography in a painterly fashion, creating beautiful images through the use of careful lighting, manipulated tones, soft focus effects, and artistic compositions. In this important volume, Christian A. Peterson finally gives the pictorialists of the first half of the twentieth century their due. He describes the backgrounds of the movement, their methods, the photo clubs they belonged to, and their work, illustrated here with ninety-three stunning reproductions. The movement seemed to die out, Peterson suggests, with the rising popularity of 35mm photography in mid-century, when the care and slow working procedures required by large-format cameras became unpopular. 93 full-color photographs

Each of the eight chapters takes a period of up to forty years and examines the medium through the lenses of art, science, social science, travel, war, fashion, the mass media and individual practitioners.-Back Cover.

"This book aims to establish the importance of the Linked Ring in the development of the aesthetic of photography and recognition of the medium as an art in its own right during the early years of the twentieth century. The concept of photographer as both artist and craftsman was an important aspect of Linked Ring philosophy and was demonstrated by Links (members of the Linked Ring) by the unification of photographic images with their presentation for display."--Introduction

"This volume is published in conjunction with the exhibition "Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand," held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from November 10, 2010, to April 10, 2011."

A compact, readable, up-to-date overview of the history of photography.