Alfred Stieglitz - Ocean liners: The steerage (1907)

This photo has often been reproduced to represent the experience of immigrants traveling to the United States. In fact, Stieglitz took the photo while traveling to Europe as a first class passenger on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II in June 1907. The ship was going from New York City to Bremen, Germany, and the people in the steerage deck scene could be skilled craftsmen and their families heading home after working on temporary visas. Stieglitz first published the photo in 1911 in Camera Work, while he was moving away from pictorialism and into more abstract art photography. In 1942, Stieglitz wrote: "I saw a picture of shapes and underlying that the feeling I had about life." (Source: Wikipedia, 2015)
Illus. in: Camera Work, no. 36, October 1911, plate IX.


Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter. He was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1864 and died in 1946. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of photography and played a major role in promoting photography as a fine art form.

Stieglitz began his career as a photographer in the late 19th century, and over the course of his career, he experimented with various photographic techniques and styles. He is known for his photographs of New York City and for his portraits of notable figures such as Georgia O'Keeffe, whom he later married.

In addition to his work as a photographer, Stieglitz was also a major advocate for the acceptance of photography as a legitimate art form. He founded the Photo-Secession movement in 1902, which sought to promote photography as fine art, and later founded the gallery "291" in New York City to showcase the work of photographers and other modern artists.

Stieglitz's work and his promotion of photography as an art form had a significant impact on the medium and on the art world more broadly. His work continues to be exhibited and studied in museums and galleries around the world.