Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen (1879-1973) was one of the most important and versatile photographers of the twentieth century, whose extraordinary career carried him from Pictorialist beginnings through commercial fashion work and eventually into the curatorial leadership that shaped photography's institutional standing in America. Born in Luxembourg and raised in the United States, Steichen became interested in photography at the age of sixteen. His early Pictorialist images, deeply influenced by the atmospheric moonlight effects he loved, developed alongside his parallel practice as a painter.

Upon turning twenty-one, Steichen left for Europe by way of New York, where he met Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz was immediately impressed and purchased three of the young photographer's images, launching one of the most consequential artistic partnerships in the history of American photography. On his return to New York, Steichen set up a portrait studio at 291 Fifth Avenue, a space that would later become part of Stieglitz's celebrated Photo-Secessionist gallery known simply as "291." Steichen became a founding member of the Photo-Secession group in 1903, and he played a crucial role in helping to establish photography as a serious artistic medium in America during the early twentieth century.

In 1923 Steichen entered a decisive new phase of his career, going to work for the Condé Nast publications Vanity Fair and Vogue, where he photographed celebrities and pioneered the field of modern fashion photography. This position generated substantial advertising commissions as well, and he once even made photographic designs for silk fabric. Steichen closed his New York studio in 1938 and embarked upon a new, more spontaneous photographic phase. During the Second World War he joined the United States Navy and led a unit of photographers producing images of the Pacific naval war.

Steichen served as the first curator of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where he curated the celebrated The Family of Man exhibition in 1955, one of the most widely seen and influential photography exhibitions ever produced. His photographs are held in every major international collection.