Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen

DIRECTOR

Edward Steichen was a key figure of twentieth-century photography, directing its development as a prominent photographer and influential curator. During World War I, he directed aerial photography for the Army Expeditionary Forces. He renounced painting shortly thereafter, along with the vestiges of Pictorialism, and adopted a modernist style. He served as chief photographer for Condé Nast from 1923 to 1938 while also doing freelance advertising work. Commissioned a lieutenant commander in 1942, Steichen became director of the U.S. Naval Photographic Institute in 1945; there he oversaw combat photography and organized the exhibitions Road to Victory and Power in the Pacific. He was director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art from 1947 to 1962, and was responsible for more than fifty shows, including The Family of Man in 1955, the most popular exhibition in the history of photography. Steichen received innumerable awards and honors, including Knighthood in the French Legion of Honor, an Honorary Fellowship in the Royal Photographic Society, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Art Directors Club of New York Award, U.S. Camera Achievement Award for "Most Outstanding Contribution to Photography by an Individual," (1949) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963).

  • When was
    Edward Steichen born?

    Edward Steichen was born on Thursday, March 27, 1879

  • Where was
    Edward Steichen born?

    Edward Steichen was born in Luxembourg

  • How old was
    Edward Steichen when they died?

    Edward Steichen was 94

  • When did Edward Steichen die?

    Edward Steichen died on
    Sunday, March 25, 1973

  • How tall is Edward Steichen?

    Edward Steichen is 6'(1.83m)


Best Quotes

  • The use of the term art medium is, to say the least, misleading, for it is the artist that creates a work of art not the medium. It is the artist in photography that gives form to content by a distillation of ideas, thought, experience, insight and understanding.
  • Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.
  • There is only one optimist. He has been here since man has been on this earth, and that is man himself. If we hadn't had such a magnificent optimism to carry us through all these things, we wouldn't be here. We have survived it on our optimism.
  • You know...that a blank wall is an apalling thing to look at. The wall of a museum -- a canvas -- a piece of film -- or a guy sitting in front of a typewriter. Then, you start out to do something -- that vague thing called creation. The beginning strikes awe within you.

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