Timeline for Why is "The Steerage" hailed "one of the greatest photographs of all time"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Apr 17, 2020 at 19:15 | history | edited | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 20, 2019 at 7:01 | comment | added | Michael C | @BenCrowell "Then, as now, most (wealthy) people in the US accepted the existence of extreme differences in wealth." There are, in our present time, many who are very vocal about their lack of acceptance of the existence of extreme differences in wealth and they get significant media coverage. | |
| Jan 19, 2019 at 17:34 | vote | accept | mik01aj | ||
| Jan 19, 2019 at 10:50 | comment | added | Hagen von Eitzen | @BenCrowell But accepting the existence of extreme differences in wealth vs. pointing to seemingly open but practically impenetrable barriers between classes are very different things. However, I for myself couldn't tell how the distribution of these two attitudes have developed over time (whether in the (US) population as a whole or in selected sub-populations) | |
| Jan 19, 2019 at 8:45 | history | edited | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 18, 2019 at 16:33 | comment | added | user21068 | @BobT: Class differences were an accepted condition then It doesn't seem to me that anything has fundamentally changed about perception of class between then and now. This was the era when McKinley was assassinated by anarchists, and the Bolshevik revolution was brewing. Then, as now, most people in the US accepted the existence of extreme differences in wealth. | |
| Jan 18, 2019 at 14:01 | comment | added | Michael C | @BobT With regard to the perception of the image in 1911: the image itself argues otherwise. The "Proto-Cubism" compositional elements are used to show that those in steerage (i.e. the lower classes) are trapped there by things beyond their control. Note that every person on both decks in the image are steerage class passengers. The first class passengers would have been behind and to the left of the camera. | |
| Jan 18, 2019 at 11:37 | history | edited | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 18, 2019 at 10:11 | comment | added | Michael C | @BobT Yeah, Riis was never taken seriously by the "high art" community, nor did Riis seen to have any such aspirations. He did photography only to document and support his writings and his entire campaign dedicated to improving the lives of the poor, particularly in New York City. What he "had to say" was put into words more than pictures. He wasn't so much concerned with the aesthetics of his photos as he was with the circumstances. Stieglitz, on the other hand, started with artistic intent and discovered he could frame a "documentary" photo so that it also had desired artistic elements. | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 23:32 | comment | added | BobT | I was going to disagree with you, citing Jacib Riis but 'artistic intent got you off the hook... I wonder if the image was perceived differently in 1911 than it is today. Class differences were an accepted condition then, so to my eye the strength of the image has much to do with shared aspirations despite class differences... | |
| Jan 17, 2019 at 23:13 | history | edited | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 17, 2019 at 20:26 | history | edited | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 17, 2019 at 20:18 | history | answered | Michael C | CC BY-SA 4.0 |