The Hand of Man

Alfred Stieglitz worked tirelessly to elevate photography to a medium of art. He edited two journals, Camera Notes and Camera Work; ran a series of galleries where he promoted photography alongside modern painting and sculpture; and made groundbreaking photographs of his own. Stieglitz took this photograph from the back of a moving train as it pulled out of the train yard in Long Island City, New York, and the image was published in the first issue of Camera Work in January 1903. The elegance of the composition belies its rough, industrial subject and emphasizes artistic intent over the technical skills required to make a photograph. The title, too, affirms the artist's role in a mechanical process of urban transformation.
For more on the Alfred Stieglitz collection at the Art Institute, along with in-depth object information, please visit the website: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection.