1905-1917 Art gallery opened by Alfred Stieglitz at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Quickly became the only focal point of 'Modern Art' in America until the Armory Show 1913. The first American gallery to show Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Henri Rousseau, Paul Cezanne, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and others.
Stieglitz took significant criticism for his boldness, but history vindicates him. Before World War I, 291 continued to expand and influence the art world, writers, and poets. The critics of our papers, the very same ones who write at present learned the treaties about Cezanne and Picasso, or Francis Picabia and Matisse, then had only a laughing sneer for the modern art. They made it hot for Stieglitz. They ridiculed him, abused him...But Stieglitz said: 'We have to learn how to see. We all have to learn to use our eyes, and 291 is here for no other purpose than to give everybody a chance to see.' It was during this time that Camera Work magazine was produced.
It also became a gathering place for the people who revolved around New York Dada. That included:
In 1917, 291 was forced to close its doors due to rising costs and "the changed attitude of the public" However, 291 was not the last gallery that Stieglitz ever operated. Stieglitz opened the The Intimate Gallery in 1925 and later closed it in 1929, and then he managed An American Place from 1930 to 1946.
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Sources:
Motherwell, Robert "The Dada Painters and Poets: An Anthology", Harvard University Press, 1951
Leavens, Ileana, 'From "291" to Zurich : the birth of Dada", UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, 1983.
Rubin, William S., "Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage", Museum of Modern Art, NY, 1968.
Last Updated 04.18.04