The Steerage

Alfred Stieglitz, artist

1864–1946

The Steerage, 1907

Portfolio/Series title: 291

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: photogravure; tissue

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 33.4 x 26.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 13 1/8 x 10 1/2 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 36.2 x 28.2 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 1/4 x 11 1/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 16 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Peter T. Bohan Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 1984.0166

Not on display

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Label texts

Spencer Museum of Art Highlights

This straightforward scene from contemporary life is proclaimed as Stieglitz’s first Modernist photograph—a work that stands in stark contrast to his previous painterly photographic renderings of Symbolist subjects. Employing a compressed composition, Stieglitz portrays the densely packed lower decks of a ship, or steerage. Created at a significant moment of migration to the United States, the image has been interpreted as a cultural document of struggling European newcomers. However, as Stieglitz actually took the photograph on a steamer heading from New York to Germany, these passengers may be immigrants who were denied entry to the United States and/or various foreign artisans and workers returning to their home countries.

Google Art Project

Exhibition Label:
"Echoes of Human Migration in the Collection of the Spencer Museum of Art," Mar-2010
Perhaps Stieglitz’s most iconic image, this depiction of lowerclass passengers crowded on a ship also displays his own artistic passage. This straightforward scene from contemporary life is proclaimed as Stieglitz’s first “modernist” photograph-a work that stands in stark contrast to his previous painterly photographic renderings of Symbolist subjects. Employing a compressed composition, Stieglitz portrays the densely packed lower decks of a ship, or steerage. Created at a significant moment of migration to the United States, the image has been interpreted as a cultural document of struggling European newcomers. However, as Stieglitz actually took the photograph on a steamer heading from New York to Germany, these passengers may be immigrants who were denied entry to the U.S., and/or various foreign artisans and workers returning to their home countries.