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Ralph Steiner's photography first came to prominence in the 1930s, when he was already supporting himself as a free-lance advertising and magazine photographer. A filmmaker as well as photographer, one of Steiner's first films entitled H2O is considered the second earliest American art film. Steiner, however, always considered himself a still photographer, first subscribing to the soft-focus style of some Photo-Secessionists, but quickly moving to exacting, honest, and direct photographs that became his signature. Early in his career Steiner was particularly interested in billboards, posters, and window signs that constituted the backdrop of the urban scene. In Always Camels Steiner takes as his subject an enormous cigarette advertisement that boldly dwarfs the pedestrians and storefronts below. Unlike many other artists, the subject in this photograph is not the built environment of New York, but rather its language and message. It is not the real humans below that catch our interest, or even the architecture that supports the advertisement and shop signs, but instead the generic painted man above-a choice that also seems to emphasize the small size of the photograph itself. This direct approach to the visual culture of New York lends Steiner's photograph a documentary edge, although his artistic presence is notable in the careful framing and composition of the image.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1984.25.10 |
