The court at 291

Alfred Stieglitz is a cult figure, a grand totem of modern painting, with a deserved reputation as one of the major catalysts of abstract art in America. Divesting his reputation as a photographer from the remarkable aura of glory which surrounds his persona as gallery owner is almost impossible, for, as the founder of the legendary ‘291’, he introduced a succession of major European and American artists to a philistine public. As William Homer observes, ‘From 1908 to 1913, Stieglitz was a pioneer in the best visionary sense of the word’ (p. 164). How much he absorbed from his association with Steichen, Marin, Dove, Hartley, Picabia or the other luminaries of the avant-garde, is only now beginning to be investigated and, to that end, the Homer compilation of information about the often dazzling cast of characters is certain to be of considerable value

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