Winter—Fifth Avenue, 1893, printed 1897 or later

Key Set Entry

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Remarks

Even though Stieglitz later recalled making this print in 1894, it has to have been made after the publication of Picturesque Bits of New York and Other Studies in 1897 because several railroad ties, which are present in the lower left of Key Set numbers 82 and 83, are no longer visible. (The ties were placed in snowy or muddy streets so that passengers had a place to step when they alighted from a street car or carriage.) The railroad ties do not appear in any subsequent prints (see Key Set numbers 85, 86, and 87), indicating that the negative itself was retouched. The first time the image was published without the railroad ties was in November 1899 (Scribner’s Magazine).

For more information about this photograph, see Key Set number 82.

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

George Eastman Museum, Rochester, 72:0176:0001 [carbon] (inscribed: Winter—Fifth Avenue (1892) / by Alfred Stieglitz / (New York) / Property OKeeffe [circled] / Alfred Stieglitz / Value $2000 [crossed out] / 3W29 / A / Cut a[n] fr. to / 12 1/2 × 15 1/2 / + color outside / very [dark] gray almost / black)

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1949.3.94 [platinum]

Inscription

by Alfred Stieglitz, upper center verso, in graphite: #5; on mount, upper center verso, in graphite: #7; on backing board, verso, on Alfred Stieglitz Collection label, in ink: Winter—Fifth Avenue / Alfred Stieglitz [underlined] / Carbon [underlined] / Negative made in 1892. 4 x 5 size. My first hand- / camera "shot." Print made in 1894. Only two / other prints—good ones—in existence: This / photograph is the basis of so-called "American / Photography." Shown in every important / exhibition since then; on 1909 Dresden exhibition label, in ink: Winter—Fifth Avenue (1892) / Alfred Stieglitz / New York / 700 Marks [crossed out] / Value $3000

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Exhibition History

1992

Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA, 1992

2002

Alfred Stieglitz: Known and Unknown, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, June 2–September 2, 2002; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 6, 2002–January 5, 2003

Bibliography

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 84.

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