News Release: 8 June 1999

National Gallery of Art Releases New Edition of Its Award-Winning 1983 Book, "Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings"

Washington, DC--The National Gallery of Art is printing a new edition of its award-winning 1983 book, Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings. Containing seventy-three reproductions of master photographer Alfred Stieglitz's most important photographs, as well as a selection of his articles and letters, the new edition is now available in the Gallery Shops. This reprint is being published as part of STIEGLITZ, a multi-year endeavor by the Gallery to present in print and electronic media, the key set of 1,600 photographs by Stieglitz that were given to the Gallery by Georgia O'Keeffe, the photographer's wife.

This new edition is made possible by a generous grant from the Eastman Kodak Company, which is also sponsoring STIEGLITZ.

The first edition was described by the New York Times Book Review as "unquestionably the most beautiful book devoted to (Stieglitz's) work," and won numerous awards such as the American Book Award, 1983; the Federal Design Achievement Award by the National Endowment for the Arts, 1984; and the Silbermedaille der Internationalen Buchkunst-Ausstellung, Leipzig, 1989. Although 20,000 copies were published, it soon went out of print.

"The reproductions in the 1983 book, printed from negatives made directly from the National Gallery's photographs, have never been equalled in their quality and faithfulness to the spirit of the originals," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are delighted to be able to make this beautiful book available again and thus to further knowledge and appreciation of the art of this important photographer."

This edition of Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings, with a new foreword by director Powell, was printed as a result of the collaboration of several members from the original production team including Juan Hamilton, sculptor and Georgia O'Keeffe's representative for the Alfred Stieglitz Collection of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, and Sarah Greenough, curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art. Together with Georgia O'Keeffe they selected seventy-three of Stieglitz's finest photographs for the book. Sarah Greenough also selected and edited fifty-six of Stieglitz's letters and articles.

The illustrations are drawn from the key set of Stieglitz photographs donated to the National Gallery of Art by Georgia O'Keeffe in 1949 and 1980. Consisting of approximately 1,600 images, the Gallery's Stieglitz Collection contains the finest example of every mounted print that was in Stieglitz's possession at the time of his death. The photographs span Stieglitz's entire career: his early European studies from the 1880s and 1890s; his views of New York City from the turn of the century; the portraits of the many artists and writers he championed; the extended portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe; his photographs of clouds, the Equivalents; and his final studies of New York City and Lake George from the 1920s and 1930s.

The images have been reproduced in tritone offset and printed on specially manufactured archival paper to achieve the utmost fidelity to Stieglitz's original prints. The negatives that were used to print this edition are those that were used also to make the plates for the original book. The text has been set in letterpress.

Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs & Writings will be available for $75.00, the same price that it sold for in 1983. The book will be available at the National Gallery Shops and distributed by Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company in bookstores. To order from the Gallery Shops, call (800) 697-9350 or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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