The Steerage and Alfred Stieglitz - (Defining Moments in Photography) by Jason Francisco & Elizabeth Anne McCauley (Paperback)

About the Book

"Alfred Stieglitz's "The Steerage" (1907) is one of the most famous images of the twentieth century, and one which raises complex issues regarding art photography and subject matter. The pairing of Anne MacCauley's well-contextualized historical analysis with Jason Francisco's more philosophical and poetic reading gives great insight into this important photograph. Together, they offer a new and fascinating take on a canonical work."--Kim Sichel, author of "Germaine Krull: Photographer of Modernity."
"It is past time for the history of Stieglitz' "The Steerage"to be deconstructed, and for the myths surrounding it to be replaced with rational analysis. McCauley's and Francisco's essays are each well-conceived and executed, filled with promising ideas, new ways of approaching this canonic image, and tactics for separating myth from truth. Together they present a beautiful contrast of styles, and make this book a very important re-evaluation of a well-known masterpiece." --Joel Leivick, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Photography, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University

Book Synopsis

When, in 1907, Alfred Stieglitz took a simple picture of passengers on a ship bound for Europe, he could not have known that The Steerage, as it was soon called, would become a modernist icon and, from today's vantage, arguably the most famous photograph made by an American photographer. In complementary essays, a photo historian and a photographer reassess this important picture, rediscovering the complex social and aesthetic ideas that informed it and explaining how over the years it has achieved its status as a masterpiece. What aspects of Stieglitz's ideas and sometimes-murky ambitions help us understand the picture's achievements? How should we assess the photograph in relation to Stieglitz's many writings about it? The authors of this book explore what The Steerage might mean in at least two senses-by itself, as a grand and self-sufficient work, and also ineluctably bound up with the many stories told about it. They make the photograph, today, what Stieglitz himself made it over the years-a photo-text work.

From the Back Cover

"Alfred Stieglitz's The Steerage (1907) is one of the most famous images of the twentieth century, and one which raises complex issues regarding art photography and subject matter. The pairing of Anne MacCauley's well-contextualized historical analysis with Jason Francisco's more philosophical and poetic reading gives great insight into this important photograph. Together, they offer a new and fascinating take on a canonical work."--Kim Sichel, author of Germaine Krull: Photographer of Modernity.

"It is past time for the history of Stieglitz' The Steerageto be deconstructed, and for the myths surrounding it to be replaced with rational analysis. McCauley's and Francisco's essays are each well-conceived and executed, filled with promising ideas, new ways of approaching this canonic image, and tactics for separating myth from truth. Together they present a beautiful contrast of styles, and make this book a very important re-evaluation of a well-known masterpiece." --Joel Leivick, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Photography, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University

Review Quotes

"[Francisco and McCauley's] analysis suggests the true importance of the image. . . . A valuable text."-- "Yearbook of German-American Studies" (6/1/2014 12:00:00 AM)

"Fascinating and revealing. . . . A rich experience. . . . Illuminates the way in which we see ourselves and others around us."--Mark Welch "Metapsychology Online Review" (2/19/2013 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Jason Francisco is an acclaimed photographer and the Chair of the Visual Arts Department at Emory University. He is the author of Far From Zion: Jews, Diaspora, Memory (Stanford, 2006). Elizabeth Anne McCauley is David H. McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art at Princeton University and the author of Industrial Madness: Commercial Photography in Paris 1848-71 (Yale, 1994).