Liberating the Moment

This installation illustrates the American reaction to European modernism in the early years of the twentieth century, as seen in the work of a group of artists associated with the avant-garde photographer and collector, Alfred Stieglitz. The artists that he championed, including Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia O'Keeffe adapted the radical ideas of modernism they saw at the 1913 Armory Show to create an inherently modern and intrinsically American art. The exhibition demonstrates that the ideas engendered by the dialogue Stieglitz established between painting and photography were central to the development of modernism in this country, as reflected in the title which is taken from Stieglitz's statement, "To show the moment to itself is to liberate the moment."