Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907

AR321 THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY Pavin Kittikovit

The History of Photography

Title: Practical criticism of the photograph, Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907.

Lecture: Natasha Ruiz-‐ Gómez Student Name: Pavin Kittikovit Student Number: 1400205 Words Count: 1,120 words


Practical criticism of the photograph, Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907.

Stieglitz, Alfred. The Steerage, 1907. Photogravure, 33.3 x 26.4 cm. Mount Holyoke College Art Museum.


In June 1907, Alfred Stieglitz was travelling to Europe with his wife and daughter

where his first destination was Paris. During the journey on the fashional ship

Stieglitz took a photograph of passengers on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II.1 He gave the

title of the image as The Steerage. Stieglitz probably captured this photo when the

ship anchored in Plymouth2, after he tried to escape from the first class atmosphere

as he explained that, “I avoided seeing faces that would give me the cold shivers, yet

those voices and that English”.3 It’s about the truth, it’s about the machine and it’s

about immigrants. It became live in this photograph while before he took it, he

wondered could he have made this photograph into live.4

After, he walked to the end of the deck and looked down to the lower deck of the

steerage. There were men, women and children sat and chatted to each other and

on the right hand side there was a narrow stairway towards the upper deck of the

steerage. Beside on the left, there was a gangway bridge connected to the upper

deck, which was clean and bright when the sun reflected on it and behind the

gangway was a gigantic leaning funnel. On the upper deck there were crowded

passengers standing around the deck but what impressed Stieglitz was a young man

with a staw hat. His face was looking down to the lower deck watching women and

children. This whole scene fascinated Stieglitz enough and he did not hesitate to

walk back to grab his camera and came back to capture this moment.5 According to

Stieglitz who mentioned about that moment which was, “the common people, the

feeling of ship and ocean and sky and the feeling of release that I was away from the

mob called the rich”.6

1 Ann Thomas, American Photographs 1900-‐1950, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2011. pp. 150-‐151. 2 Ann Thomas, American Photographs 1900-‐1950, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2011. pp. 150-‐151. 3 Richard Whelan and Sarah Greenough, Stieglitz On Photography His Selected Essays and Notes, Aperture, N.A. pp. 194. 4 “Could I photograph what I felt, looking and looking, and still looking? I saw shapes related to each other. I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that the feeling I had about life.” Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 234. 5 Jason Francisco and Elizabeth Anne McCauley, The Steerage and Alfred Stieglitz, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 2012. pp. 5-‐10. 6 Richard Whelan and Sarah Greenough, Stieglitz On Photography His Selected Essays and Notes, Aperture, N.A. pp. 195.


If the viewers look to photography roughly, they could say the photography contains

two pictures in one photograph but if they look at the photograph more carefully,

they will easily find the story and connection of the image. Stieglitz used the

gangway bridge, large funnel and stairway to shape the basis form of geometric

exploration whereas Stieglitz himself noted, “White suspenders crossing on the back

of a man in the steerage below, round shapes of iron machinery, a mast cutting into

the sky, making a triangular shape.”7 In the photograph, possibly divided in two parts

which is the passengers from the lower deck and the upper deck, both of them were

connected by objects from the ship. The upper and lower deck was seperated by a

beam and a gangplank but also it made intersection point in the middle of the

photograph. The gangplank was connected with beam and it was bevel from the

right hand side crossing to the left hand side of the frame. This effect lead the

viewer’s eye-‐line to the middle of the photograph and this created the photograph

to be more dimensional.

Moreover, Stieglitz had composed the image with the diagonal effect, which was the

gangway bridge and with this playful element it caused unusual angles. In contrast,

on the right of the frame Stieglitz decided to take an incomplete ladder, which the

viewer can only see part of it. The angle and shape produce the intersection and

created depth of field. Stieglitz composed the photograph by using an object from

the ship formed of subjects, which was the passengers, especially the man with a

staw hat.

In that time, Graflex cameras were easy to use and served many purposes as the

feature present included a 5 by 7, 4 by 5, and a 3¼ by 4¼ and it was convenient to

bring wherever you go.8 Stieglitz had chosen the Graflex camera to capture this

image and overall the picture was captured with detail and high resolution. The

photographer focused on the man with a straw hat while the group of people behind

him was blurred. The picture had a clear bright contrast with dark tone clothes.

7 Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 233-‐234. 8 Richard Whelan and Sarah Greenough, Stieglitz On Photography His Selected Essays and Notes, Aperture, N.A. pp. 197.


There were no blind spots except for one, which was the background of the lower

deck. The contrast of the backgroud made women and child wearing white clothes

look more distinguished.

According to Hoffmen (2004) who mentioned about the writer Allan Sekula gave the

comment about The Steerage which was, “pure symbolist autobiography” and

pointed out that Stieglitz produced intersection of the two worlds. Stieglitz spots a

young man with a staw hat as an observer while Stieglitz himself also as a spectator,

observing the passengers from the steerage.9 Futhermore, it could be parallel worlds

between the first class where he and his family were and second class where he took

this photograph. Both classes shared the same ship but was divided by living space

area.

At the same period of time, many people have interpreted the photograph as

remarkable work by femouse photographer, Lewis Hine as his images series about

the New York immigrants at Ellis Island.10 However, the truth is The Steerage was not

taken in New York but essentially on the way to Europe. Although, Lewis Hine

depicts his photographs about new coming from Europe in contrast with Stieglitz’s

photograph which actually depicts the failure of immigrants. Many of the passengers

were returning to Europe after American immigration ejected their enquiry, which

might be because of the financial or health requirement problems. Though, it is

symbolic that people from first class were looking down to the lower deck observing

the unfortunate passenger returning home.11 Referring to Hoffman’s (2004)

mentions, Stieglitz’s noted that “You may call this a crowd of immigrants . . . To me it

is a study in mathematical line, in balance, in a pattern of light and shade”.12

Whatever it is that Stieglitz wants to explore either composition or content of the

passenger, one thing it comes along with is the truth.13 He expresses that moment in

9 Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 237. 10 Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 237. 11 Richard Whelan and Sarah Greenough, Stieglitz On Photography His Selected Essays and Notes, Aperture, N.A. pp. 197. 12 Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 237. 13 Marius De Zayas, ‘1907, Stieglitz in the photograph which we publish in the present number of “291” under the title “The Steerage”’, 291, Sep.-‐Oct., No. 7/8, 1915, pp. 1, 3-‐4.


time and captured that moment of life. He expressed his feeling by using the camera

as a medium and it’s worth it to give everyone to view this photography. However,

The Steerage did not appear in any exhibition or published to the public until

October 1911.

The Steerage first appeared to public eyes in Camera work and a few years later

after the travelling, Stieglitz printed the photograph in the magazine 291 in 1915.14

The Steerage received positive comment from the critics and the photograph

obtained both formal elements and symbolic qualities. The Steerage undoubtedly

was one of the most famous and most noteworthy photographs done by Stieglitz.

14 Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. pp. 237.


Reference Books Ann Thomas, American Photographs 1900-‐1950, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2011. Dorothy Norman, Alfred Stirglitz An American Seer, New York, Aperture, 1990. Jason Francisco and Elizabeth Anne McCauley, The Steerage and Alfred Stieglitz, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 2012. Katherine Hoffman, Stieglitz A Beginning Light, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2004. Naomi Rosenblum, A World History of Photography. New York, Abbeville Press, 1997. Richard Whelan and Sarah Greenough, Stieglitz On Photography His Selected Essays and Notes, Aperture, N.A. Article Marius De Zayas, ‘1907, Stieglitz in the photograph which we publish in the present number of “291” under the title “The Steerage”’, 291, Sep.-‐Oct., No. 7/8, 1915, pp. 1, 3-‐4.

Documents

Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907