Saratoga Springs
Ralph Steiner
American, 1899–1986
c. 1929
A gelatin silver photograph by Ralph Steiner that frames an early automobile parked before a commercial building to examine the visual rhythms of industry and everyday modern life.
What strikes you is the bold painted signage dominating the upper plane while the shiny, detailed car in the lower right and a small shingled booth to the left create a tense, geometric composition of textures, light, and shadow.
Made around 1929, the image exemplifies modernist photography’s turn to ordinary urban and industrial subjects—elevating typography, vernacular architecture, and machines into a formal vocabulary that reshaped how everyday American life was seen and valued.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
7 5/8 × 9 1/2" (19.3 × 24.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
644.1970
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions