id: 152654 accession number: 1985.46 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.46 updated: 2025-02-09 04:21:52.020000 Tug and New York Skyline, 1922. Ralph Steiner (American, 1899–1986). Gelatin silver print; image: 4.8 x 9.8 cm (1 7/8 x 3 7/8 in.); matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1985.46 © Estate of Ralph Steiner title: Tug and New York Skyline title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1922 creation date earliest: 1922 creation date latest: 1922 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: © Estate of Ralph Steiner --- culture: America technique: gelatin silver print department: Photography collection: PH - American 1900-1950 type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ralph Steiner (American, 1899–1986) - artist Ralph Steiner American, 1899-1986 Ralph Steiner (born in Cleveland) was a modernist photographer and filmmaker known for his clear, sharply focused images of everyday America. Having developed an early interest in photography, Steiner spent the year following graduation from Dartmouth College studying at the Clarence H. White School of Photography in New York (1921-22). He worked as a plate engraver at the Manhattan Photogravure Company, then undertook a career as a magazine and advertising photographer. Deeply impressed by the technical quality of Paul Strand's pictures, Steiner spent the summer and early fall of 1929 improving his own technical skills. That same year he also began experimenting with filmmaking, producing the avant-garde film H2O. During the 1930s he continued to make films, producing Surf and Seaweed, Mechanical Principles, and Pie in the Sky. In 1935 Steiner joined Strand as a cameraman on Pare Lorentz's documentary film, The Plow that Broke the Plains, and several years later collaborated with photographer Willard Van Dyke on The City, a documentary shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In the early 1940s Steiner moved to Hollywood, where he worked for mgm and rko. Upon his return to New York later in the decade, he resumed his career as a commercial photographer. During the 1960s he was able to spend more time doing his own work, producing both photographs and films. His autobiography, A Point of View (1978), was followed by a book of his cloud photographs, In Pursuit of Clouds (1985). M.M. --- measurements: Image: 4.8 x 9.8 cm (1 7/8 x 3 7/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on mount: "Ralph Steiner [signed] 1922 neg and print"; "2"; in pencil on verso: "Ralph Steiner / Vintage Print"; in hot pink felt pen "A2 [2 circled]"; in red felt pen "UU"; in black felt pen: "Vintage print--1922-23" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Hand of Man: Art of the Industrial Age opening date: 1987-03-31T05:00:00 The Hand of Man: Art of the Industrial Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 31-June 28, 1987). title: American Cities: The Artist's View opening date: 1989-10-17T04:00:00 American Cities: The Artist's View. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 17, 1989-January 7, 1990). title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). title: Shadows and Dreams: Pictorialist Photography in America opening date: 2015-09-05T00:00:00 Shadows and Dreams: Pictorialist Photography in America. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (September 5, 2015-January 17, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1985." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 73, no. 2 (1986): 26-71. page number: p. 66, no. 114 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25159930 Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 330 url: --- IMAGES