Edward Steichen | |
|---|---|
 Edward Steichen, photographed by Fred Holland Day (1901) | |
| Born | Édouard Jean Steichen March 27, 1879 Bivange/Béiweng, Luxembourg |
| Died | March 25, 1973 (aged 93) |
| Known for | Photography, Painting |
| Spouses | Clara Smith
(m. 1903; div. 1922)Dana Desboro Glover
(m. 1923; died 1957) |
| Children | Mary Steichen Calderone Charlotte "Kate" Rodina Steichen |
| Relatives | Lilian Steichen (sister) Carl Sandburg (brother-in-law) |
| Awards | Légion d'Honneur, Medal of Freedom |
| Website | edwardsteichen |
Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator. He is considered among the most important figures in the history of photography.[1]
Steichen was credited with transforming photography into an art form.[2] His photographs appeared in Alfred Stieglitz's groundbreaking magazine Camera Work more often than anyone else during its publication run from 1903 to 1917. Stieglitz hailed him as "the greatest photographer that ever lived".[3][4]
As a pioneer of fashion photography, Steichen's gown images for the magazine Art et Décoration in 1911 were the first modern fashion photographs to be published. From 1923 to 1938, Steichen served as chief photographer for the Condé Nast magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair, while also working for many advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson. During these years, Steichen was regarded as the most popular and highest-paid photographer in the world.[5]
After the United States' entry into World War II, Steichen was invited by the United States Navy to serve as Director of the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit.[6] In 1944, he directed the war documentary The Fighting Lady, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 17th Academy Awards.
From 1947 to 1961, Steichen served as Director of the Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art. While there, he curated and assembled exhibits including the touring exhibition The Family of Man, which was seen by nine million people. In 2003, the Family of Man photographic collection was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in recognition of its historical value.[7]
In February 2006, a print of Steichen's early pictorialist photograph, The Pond–Moonlight (1904), sold for US$2.9 million—at the time, the highest price ever paid for a photograph at auction.[8] A print of another photograph of the same style, The Flatiron (1904), became the second most expensive photograph ever on November 8, 2022, when it was sold for $12,000,000, at Christie's New York – well above the original estimate of $2,000,000-$3,000,000.[9]
- ^ "Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography". Museo Reina Sofía. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ Whitman, Aiden (26 March 1973). "Edward Steichen Is Dead at 93; Made Photography an Art Form". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Edward Steichen 1879–1973". International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ Gurría-Quintana, Ángel (16 November 2007). "Lightly Across a Lifetime of Reinvention". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-10. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Edward Steichen". Art Institute of Chicago. n.d..
- ^ "Edward Steichen". International Center of Photography. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Family of Man". UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. 2008-05-16. Archived from the original on 2010-02-25. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
- ^ Tooth, Roger (15 February 2006), "At $2.9m, Pond–Moonlight becomes world's most expensive photograph", The Guardian.
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (9 November 2022). "Paul G. Allen's Art at Christie's Tops $1.5 Billion, Cracking Records". New York Times. Retrieved 3 January 2023.