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

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.