Steichen, Edward (stī`kən), 1879–1973, American photographer, b. Luxembourg, reared in Hancock, Mich. Steichen is credited with the transformation of photography into an art form. At 16, while apprenticed as a lithographer, he taught himself photography and painted in his spare time. Studying art in Paris, he sought painterly effects in his photography, becoming an enormously successful portrait photographer. In New York City he was associated with Alfred Stieglitz Stieglitz, Alfred (stēg`lĭts), 1864–1946, American photographer, editor, and art exhibitor, b. Hoboken, N.J.
..... Click the link for more information. in the founding of the "291" and Photo-Secession galleries. At "291" he brought works by Cézanne, Rodin, Picasso, and Matisse to American attention. Back in Paris, Steichen made botanical experiments, a lifelong passion; he was later to win added renown as a crossbreeder of flowers.

During World War I Steichen was instrumental in the development of aerial photography. Fascinated by the technical potential of the medium, he produced pictures remarkable for their clarity, detail, and expressive use of light. From 1923 to 1938 he worked as a portrait and fashion photographer for Condé Nast publications and opened a commercial studio. At this time he made superb photomurals, including those of the George Washington Bridge. During World War II, he was placed in command of naval combat photography.

Steichen was later director of the department of photography of the Museum of Modern Art (1947–62). In this capacity he organized the Family of Man exhibition (1955) to "mirror the essential oneness of mankind"; it is considered the greatest photographic exposition ever mounted. During his time at the museum, Steichen had virtually abandoned his own work; but in his last years he filmed the effect of the passing seasons on a flowering shadblow tree. Steichen's creative imagination and his extraordinarily powerful imagery forged for him and for his medium an honored place among the fine arts.

Bibliography

See his Life in Photography (1963, repr. 1985); Edward Steichen: The Portraits, with text by C. Peterson (1989); C. Sandburg (his brother-in-law) et al., Steichen the Photographer (1961); J. Steichen (his third wife), Steichen's Legacy: Photographs, 1895–1973 (2000); biography by P. Nivens (1997); J. Smith, Edward Steichen: The Early Years (1999).

Steichen, Edward (Jean)

orig. Édouard Jean Steichen

Edward Steichen, 1960.

(credit: Joanna T. Steichen)

(born March 27, 1879, Luxembourg—died March 25, 1973, West Redding, Conn., U.S.) Luxembourg-born U.S. photographer. His family immigrated to the U.S. in 1881. His early photographs were influenced by his training as a painter. He frequently used chemicals to achieve prints that resembled soft, fuzzy mezzotints or wash drawings. In 1902 he joined Alfred Stieglitz in forming the Photo-Secession, a group dedicated to promoting photography as a fine art. His style evolved from painterly Impressionism to sharp realism after World War I. His portraits of artists and celebrities from the 1920s and '30s are remarkable evocations of character. At the outbreak of World War II, Steichen was commissioned by the U.S. Navy to organize a department to photograph the war at sea. In 1955 he organized the Family of Man exhibition of 503 photographs (selected from over two million), which was seen by more than nine million people worldwide.

Steichen, Edward (1879–1973) photographer, curator; born in Luxembourg (brother-in-law of Carl Sandburg). Emigrating to the United States as a toddler, he was apprenticed to a Milwaukee lithographic design company in 1894. His strong sense of design led to studies in painting and photography and attracted the attention of Stieglitz in 1905, for whom he designed gallery shows and the magazine Camera Work. Commander of aerial photography during World War I, he abandoned art photography to become chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair (1923–38). Hired by the U.S. Navy to photograph World War II at sea, he was promoted from lieutenant commander to captain and organized the Road to Victory exhibit in 1941. From 1947 to 1961, he was director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, curating some 50 exhibits including The Family of Man (1955). In 1963 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Kennedy.