Sadie Pfeifer, a Cotton Mill Spinner, Lancaster, South Carolina
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 11.6 × 15.3 cm (4 5/8 × 6 1/16 in.)
Classification
gelatin silver (developing-out-paper) pr
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11344
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Photography's ability to record people, places, and things has often made it the prized medium for documenting society, from prison mug shots to medical studies to the horrors of child labor. Working for the National Child Labor Committee, Hine used photography as a means to an end, photographing children at work, from lone newsboys to factories full of young laborers. The resulting images were the visual spark to debates about reforming child labor laws. In this, his most famous photograph, a s...
About the Artist
Lewis Wickes Hine · 1874–1940
Lewis Wickes Hine (1874–1940) was born on September 26 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to Douglas and Sarah Hine, who ran a coffeehouse and restaurant on Main Street. After his father's accidental death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound around 1892, the teenage Hine supported his widowed mother and sisters through various jobs while pursuing education. He attended Oshkosh Normal School, where he met ment...