Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography

Last October when I was in Paris, I took time to visit the Jeu de Paume, which featured a major Edward Steichen (1879-1973) exhibition. The museum gathered 150 of his iconic portraits from Greta Garbo to Winston Churchill. Many of the photographs were taken in Steichen's capacity as chief photographer for "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair," in addition to photos that are a visual re-creation of "The Family of Man," his groundbreaking 1955 show at MoMA (NYC).

One of the foremost figures in the history of photography, Steichen's career began as one of the leading proponents of the 19th-century romantic movement known as "Pictorialism." His incredible eye for composition, lighting, mystery enabled his talent to lead the forefront of modernism.

Additionally, Steichen's varied interests in portraiture, the nude, flower photography, fashion, dance, theatre, still life, landscape and nature lead him to bridge the gap between creative photography and editorial, illustrational, and other applied usages of the medium.

n the early decades of the century Steichen, in collaboration with Alfred Steiglitz, helped found the Photo-Secession and its influential journal, Camera Work. He was largely responsible for introducing to the U.S. audience the work of such European modernists as Rodin, Matisse, and Picasso. Between the two world wars Steichen achieved the pinnacle of success in commercial photography as photographer-in-chief for the Condé Nast publications Vogue and Vanity Fair. During the two world wars he served with distinction as a military photographer and propagandist, organizing influential and highly innovative exhibitions in support of the war effort. Later he helped chart the course of post-war photography from his position as photography curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, during the course of which he produced the most widely-seen photography exhibition of all time, The Family of Man, along with its widely distributed catalogue.

Steichen’s career was filled with controversy. His early partner, Alfred Stieglitz, considered Steichen’s move into the world of fashion and advertising treasonous, while his old Pictorialist colleagues were outraged at his seeming abandonment of their noble aims. Some critics saw his work for the Condé Nast empire as obsessed with glamour. Many opposed his replacement of Beaumont Newhall as head of the Photography Department at MoMA. Others criticized The Family of Man as naively sentimental, and questioned his use of photographers’ work to further polemical aims.

The tension between 'art photography' and 'commercial photography' endures even today. Emblematic of that, Steichen remains a polarizing figure, which perhaps explains the lack of serious retrospective consideration until now. Younger people, however, are intrigued by his commitment to defending the commercial/utilitarian role of photography while championing with equal vigor its artistic potential. Hence this survey provides a most timely opportunity to reconsider Steichen’s various activities and their implications while focusing on the central but too-often overlooked component of his project – his five decades’ work as a photographer.

An early critic commented that Steichen's work "haunts me to this day as a strange and lovely dream." I would agree, his photographs feel otherworldly and mysterious, yet delicate and strong, and continue to engage the viewer.

Brooklyn Bridge
Fred Astaire in Top Hat
Gloria Swanson
Flatiron Building NYC
Greta GarboShell