City of Ambition

1910, printed 1911

Alfred Stieglitz (editor/publisher) after Various Artists

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

Media Options

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    photogravure

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 22.2 × 16.8 cm (8 3/4 × 6 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.1278.29

  • Volume Title

    Camera Work 36, October 1911, pl. 1

  • Copyright

    Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

  • Key Set Number

    341

Associated Artworks

See all 16 artworks

Camera Work: Vol.9: Numbers 33, 34/35, 36

Alfred Stieglitz

1911

The image shows a riverside area with a stack of cut logs in the foreground. A railing from a structure is visible on the left. In the background, there is a cityscape silhouette with buildings. A steamship is seen moving across the water with billowing white smoke. The image is characterized by a soft-focus effect, giving it a dream-like quality. The color palette is predominantly soft sepia tones.

The City across the River

Alfred Stieglitz

1910

This is a black and white photograph of a ferry approaching a dock. The ferry is filled with individuals on two levels and is moving towards the pier. The ferry's structure includes a tall smokestack in the center, with lines and cables extending from it. The foreground shows the dock's mooring structure, made of rounded, white-topped posts arranged in a circular fashion. The scene is under an overcast sky, creating a moody atmosphere. The composition highlights the convergence of human activity and industrial machinery.

The Ferry Boat

Alfred Stieglitz

1910

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

Curious for more Alfred Stieglitz scholarship?

Discover over 1,000 artworks that the artist’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe termed his “Key Set” of prize photographs. Museum scholars have illuminated each work, his career, practices, and lifetime achievements.

Learn about the Key Set

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1992

  • Stieglitz in the Darkroom, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, October 4, 1992–February 14, 1993

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 341.

Wikidata ID

Q64037810

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1910, Buffalo (no. 439, as The City of Ambition, 1910, photogravure)
1911, London (no. 36, as The City of Ambitions)
1913, New York (no. 22, as The City of Ambitions, 1910)
1921, New York (no. 20, as The City of Ambition, 1910)
1944, Philadelphia (no. 21, as Singer Building, 1910)

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

Camera Work 36 (October 1911): pl. 1 (ill., City of Ambition, 1910)

George Routledge, “The London Secession Pictures,” Photograms of the Year 1911–1912 (New York, 1912): 36 (ill., The City of Ambitions)

Thomas Craven, “Stieglitz—Old Master of the Camera,” Saturday Evening Post 216:28 (8 January 1944): 15 (ill., The City of Ambitions)

Note

Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

You may be interested in

Loading Results