Lewis W. Hine
Italian Mother and Child, Ellis Island, New York.

Italian Mother and Child, Ellis Island, New York.

Public Domain

Italian Mother and Child, Ellis Island, New York.
ArtistAmerican, 1874–1940
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Italian Mother and Child, Ellis Island, New York.
Date1905, printed later
PlaceNew York, New York, United States
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 7/16 × 8 1/4 in. (34.2 × 21 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 10 15/16 in. (35.4 × 27.8 cm)
Credit LineThe Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection
Object number91.709
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Lewis Hine was a writer, social reformer, and photographer.
While teaching at New York’s Ethical Cultural School in 1905, Hine took his students
to Ellis Island to photograph incoming immigrants. In this photograph, Hine
carefully positioned his subjects, bringing to mind altarpieces featuring the
Madonna and Christ child surrounded by angels. In Hine’s work, a modern reality
and a religious story are condensed into a single photographic frame. Hine said
of his photography, “I wanted to show the things that had to be corrected. I
wanted to show the things that had to be appreciated.”




ProvenanceAllan Chasanoff, New York; given to MFAH, 1991.
Exhibition History"Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Upper Jones and Wiess Galleries; January 16-March 27, 1994.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
verso bottom right in pencil " AC#2656.86 ", lower left corner "#1113.28 "

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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1930
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