127. The Steerage Alfred Stieglitz. 1907 C.E. Photogravure

Content
- The scene depicts a variety of men and women traveling in the lowerclass section of a steamer going from New York to Bremen, Germany.
- Said Stieglitz: "There were men and women and children on the lower deck of the steerage. There was a narrow stairway leading to the upper deck of the steerage, a small deck right on the bow of the steamer. To the left was an inclining funnel and from the upper steerage deck there was fastened a gangway bridge that was glistening in its freshly painted state. It was rather long, white, and during the trip remained untouched by anyone. On the upper deck, looking over the railing, there was a young man with a straw hat. The shape of the hat was round. He was watching the men and women and children on the lower steerage deck…A round straw hat, the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning right, the white drawbridge with its railing made of circular chains – 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…I saw shapes related to each other. I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that the feeling I had about life."
Context
- While traveling to visit relatives he was walking around the ship (most likely still in port because of the shadows and lack of wind) and saw the scene and ran back to his cabin to grab his camera, had to wait a week to develop the negative. He said he immediately knew it was a milestone in photography, but this was challenged by his biographers who pointed out that “he didn't publish it until 1911 and didn't exhibit it until 1913.”
  - It was only after Stieglitz began to seriously consider the works of modern American artists like John Marin, Arthur Dove and Weber that he finally published the image.
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