Evening Primroses
Evening Primroses, 1929
Edward Steichen (Luxembourgian / American, 1879 – 1973)
#1991.0014.0006
Renowned as the first modern fashion photographer, Edward J. Steichen achieved success as a photographer, curator and tastemaker. In 1905 Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz partnered to open 291, the most influential modern art gallery in America. He was a photographer for both Vogue and Vanity Fair from 1923-1938 and also worked for advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson and is credited as having introduced the artistic nude into the world of modern print advertising. During this time period Steichen was regarded as the best known and highest paid photographer in the world. Steichen’s photographs were regularly published in Stieglitz’s quarterly magazine Camera Works, which championed photography as an art form. Steichen also worked as a military photographer during World War II. He directed the documentary The Fighting Lady, winning the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Between 1947 and 1962 Steichen was director of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York where he curated many groundbreaking shows.
In addition to Steichen’s career in the art and fashion world, he was also a renowned horticulturalist. After leaving his position as chief photographer for Conde Nast publications, and for more than ten years before beginning his career as Director of the Department of Photography at MOMA, he retired to his Connecticut farm where he grew and bred flowers for observation and photographic study. A reoccurring theme in his work, flowers appear in many of his photographs over the course of his career.
