Alfred Stieglitz had a double impact on the evolution of modern art in America. As an audacious and dedicated photographer, he fought for photography's acceptance as an art form. As a gallery owner, he introduced the American public to the greatest artists of the period: Rodin, Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso, Brancusi, Braque, and Duchamp owed their first exhibitions in America to Stieglitz's vision and energy. The large and elegant Modern Art and America, organized by Sarah Greenough, curator of photography at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, presents 360 works by artists associated with Stieglitz's galleries, including the photographer himself. The first half of the book describes the years 1905 to 1917, when Stieglitz used his Gallery 291 as an intellectual forum and a place to exhibit the work of mostly European artists. The second covers 1921 to 1946, when he focused on promoting American artists such as John Marin, Arthur Dove, Paul Strand, and Stieglitz's partner, Georgia O'Keeffe. In an imaginative re-creation of history, the editors have gone to great lengths to locate and illustrate the actual paintings, photos, and sculptures that Stieglitz exhibited. Essays by curators at the National Gallery and others describe his relationships with individual artists, successfully conveying the intellectual ferment that he inspired. Modern Art and America, printed in Italy to the highest quality standards, is an exemplary combination of scholarship and art book, a pleasure both to look at and to read. --John Stevenson

Greenough, curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, has arranged a recent exhibit there that focuses on the role of photographer Alfred Stieglitz as a promoter of modern art in the United States. This book complements the exhibit, featuring essays by Greenough and other scholars on the New York galleries that Stieglitz operated as showcases for modern painting, sculpture, and photography during the first three decades of the 20th century. Greenough's book is successful in explaining the importance of the galleries, which made European art available to Americans while also revealing the talents of modern American painters, photographers, and sculptors. Most of the essays focus on the artists who exhibited in Stieglitz's galleries, e.g., Picasso, O'Keeffe, Matisse, and Strand. The research and documentation in this volume are exemplary, and the high-quality photographic reproductions are well chosen. Strongly recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Eric Linderman, East Cleveland P.L., Ohio

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