Spring Showers - The Street Cleaner, New York thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case XRP, Shelf 650

Spring Showers - The Street Cleaner, New York

Photograph
1900-1 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In 1900, art critic Sadakichi Hartmann addressed photographers in A Plea for the Picturesqueness of New York. Stieglitz took up the challenge with pictures such as this, taken at 111 Madison Avenue. The scene does not address the bustling reality of the modern city. Instead, it shows the figure of the stooped worker and the fenced sapling next to him, representing the fragile balance that existed between people, nature and the new urban environment.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSpring Showers - The Street Cleaner, New York (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Platinum print
Brief description
Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 'Spring Showers - The Street Cleaner, New York', 1900/1901, platinum print
Physical description
Black and white photograph showing a street scene in the rain. In the centre of the image is a thin tree with sparse leaves and the lower part of the trunk enclosed in a metal cage, with the figure of a street cleaner visible on the left of the image.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 310mm
  • Image width: 126mm
  • Mount height: 610mm
  • Mount width: 507mm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'ALFRED STIEGLITZ/ 'Spring Showers - The Street Cleaner, New York'/ Platinum or Photogravure?? 1900./ RPS Collection 4283.' (Handwritten in pencil on verso of mount.)
  • 'M-Z OVERSIZE 1/ 2003-5001_2_21428' (Handwritten in pencil on verso of mount.)
  • 'S11' (Handwritten in pencil on verso of mount and crossed out.)
Credit line
The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund.
Place depicted
Summary
In 1900, art critic Sadakichi Hartmann addressed photographers in A Plea for the Picturesqueness of New York. Stieglitz took up the challenge with pictures such as this, taken at 111 Madison Avenue. The scene does not address the bustling reality of the modern city. Instead, it shows the figure of the stooped worker and the fenced sapling next to him, representing the fragile balance that existed between people, nature and the new urban environment.
Other numbers
  • 4283 - Royal Photographic Society number
  • 2003-5001_2_21428 - Science Museum Group accession number
  • M-Z Oversize 1 - RPS identifier - box number
Collection
Accession number
RPS.1297-2018

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Record createdFebruary 23, 2018
Record URL
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