Edward Steichen

Who is Edward Steichen?

Edward Steichen was born on 27 March 1879 in the village of Bivange, Luxembourg, and emigrated with his family to the United States as an infant, settling eventually in Michigan. He became one of the most influential photographers and curators of the twentieth century, pioneering fine-art and fashion photography in the early 1900s — his 1911 gown photographs for the French magazine Art et Décoration are considered among the first modern fashion photographs ever published. From 1923 to 1938 he served as chief photographer for Condé Nast's Vogue and Vanity Fair, shaping the visual language of celebrity and fashion portraiture. During both World Wars he served in official military photographic roles for the United States, and from 1947 to 1962 he directed the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There he curated "The Family of Man," a landmark 1955 exhibition of 503 photographs from 68 countries that toured the world for eight years and was seen by roughly nine million visitors, still holding the record as the most-visited photography exhibition in history. The permanent Family of Man collection is now housed at Clervaux Castle in his native Luxembourg, a UNESCO Memory of the World listing.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Edward Steichen" · Government of Luxembourg, "Edward Steichen — Photography in Luxembourg" · Steichen Collections Luxembourg, official archive at Clervaux Castle