Venice Possibly 1894 - 1939

This photogravure titled 'Venice' was made by Alfred Stieglitz at an unknown date. The image shows the back of a building on a canal, with laundry hanging out to dry. Stieglitz was a key figure in the Photo-Secession movement in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. This group sought to establish photography as a fine art, on a par with painting and sculpture. As such, the mundane subject of laundry becomes art, and we might ask, why laundry? I would suggest that it speaks to the social and economic conditions that shaped Venice at the time. Rather than focusing on the grand palaces and romantic gondolas typically associated with the city, Stieglitz draws our attention to the everyday lives of its working-class residents. To understand Stieglitz's 'Venice' better, we might look at the history of photography and the development of artistic movements in the early 20th century, considering the institutional contexts that shaped his vision and the social realities he sought to capture.