Edward Steichen

American photographer, 1879–1973

BiographyA painter, photographer, and curator, Edward Steichen profoundly impacted the course of photography in the United States. Steichen was born in Luxembourg and immigrated to the United States in 1880. He grew up in Chicago and Milwaukee and worked as an apprentice lithographer while teaching himself to draw and paint. He bought his first camera in 1895. He met photographer and photo impresario Alfred Stieglitz in New York in 1900, when Steichen was on his way to Paris. Stieglitz was enthusiastic over Steichen's photographs and purchased three. The two would collaborate for years, with Steichen designing the logo for Stieglitz's publication Camera Work, and Steichen would be the most frequently featured photographer in the magazine. Steichen served in the Army in World War I and the Navy in World War II, making major contributions to military photography. Steichen revolutionized fashion photography, working for Condé Nast and Vogue in the 1920s and '30s, and served as Director of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art, where he created the vast exhibition The Family of Man.

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