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| http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1816 |
Edward Steichen was important in the history of photography. With his friend Alfred Stieglitz, he was instrumental in introducing Americans to modern photographers in the early 20th century.
Steichen was born in the small
country of Luxembourg in 1879. When he was three years old he moved with his
parents to America. He became interested in photography at the age of sixteen,
and was one of the first photographers experimenting with color photography in 1904. At that time he was interested in photography as art.
During WWI Edward Steichen
was commander of an aerial photography squad. He was shocked by what he saw
during the war, and decided he would no longer pursue photography as an art
form. He felt that photography should be used realistically to show what was
going on. He wrote, “I
am no longer concerned with photography as an art form. I believe it is
potentially the best medium for explaining man to himself and his fellow man.”
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| Gretta Garbo: http://www.artnet.com/artwork/426145398/117084/edward-steichen-greta-garbo.html |
Steichen
then began photographing commercially. He became well known as a fashion
photographer (photographs clothing for sales), and also made many portraits of important authors, film stars
and others. He worked with Alfred Stieglitz to start the magazine Camera Work and open their Manhattan
gallery, Gallery 291.
After working
with Naval photographers in WWII, Steichen became the Director of Photography
at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He organized several well-known
photography exhibitions, but his most famous was The Family of Man (1955). This
exhibition showcased several important photographers of the time, including
Steichen himself. It was shown in several cities in the United States and in
thirty-seven different countries.
Sources of
information:
