Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen – Emigration to America; encouragement from Alfred Stieglitz

Edward Steichen was born on 27 March 1879 in Luxembourg. Two years later, the family moved to America where his father found work in a copper mine. Edward Steichen made his first attempts at photography in 1895 and received early support from the great photo pioneer and patron Alfred Stieglitz who bought several of the young talent’s pictures and had them printed in the magazine Camera Work. Steichen and his patron Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession artists’ association in 1902, which was largely made up of supporters of Pictorialism. Steichen quickly established himself as the most important representative of this photographic style, and in 1905, also in close collaboration with Alfred Stieglitz, opened Gallery 291, named after its location at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York. Not only were photographs by Stieglitz and his colleagues exhibited here, but paintings by the avant-garde artists Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso were also made known to the American public. Edward Steichen visited France in 1906 and worked as a fashion photographer.

The move away from Pictorialism; pioneer of fashion photography

The outbreak of the First World War marked a watershed for Edward Steichen in several respects. Touched and moved by the terrible events, he produced a number of shots showing the horror of the war. As a result of this, he moved away from Pictorialism and worked in the 1920s for renowned fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair and Vogue. His work had a style-defining effect on a whole genre, and Edward Steichen is generally regarded at the inventor of fashion photography as we still know it today. Numerous celebrities followed his fame and happily had their picture taken. Steichen achieved an extraordinary achievement in the field of commercial photography, which found many admirers and imitators and brought the artist fame and financial returns. During the Second World War, Steichen supported the photography department of the US Navy. 

‘The Family of Man’, artistic legacy and most important work

Edward Steichen celebrated his most famous and greatest artistic success as Director of the Photographic Department of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He held this position from 1947 to 1962 and led the legendary photo exhibition ‘The Family of Man’ in the 1950s, in which a total of 273 photographers from 68 countries took part, and which illustrated a comprehensive portrait of humanity from a humanist point of view with 530 photographs. The exhibition met with an unprecedented response, attracting more than ten million visitors, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2003. It has been on permanent display at Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg since 1994. 

Steichen, the great photo pioneer, died on 25 March 1973 in West Redding, Connecticut. Auction houses and art dealers expect Edward Steichen to command prices in the upper bracket – The Pond Moonlight from 1904, for example, was auctioned in New York for 2.46 million euro.