Edward Steichen

Edward Steichen. Henri Matisse with “La Serpentina, ” Issy-les-Moulineaux, France

1909

Though he began his artistic career as a painter, training at the Académie Julian in Paris, Edward Steichen is also known for his role in revolutionizing photography from a commercial tool into an artistic medium. 

Famed artist and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz often featured Steichen’s artwork in the magazine Camera Work, published from 1903 to 1917 as photography gained popularity. Over the years, Steichen served as the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair as well as the Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Steichen’s dramatic, highly stylized compositions and curatorial eye catapulted photography into greater prestige. An art critic quipped in 1905: "One should not say that he recalls Rembrandt but rather, at this rate, that Rembrandt will, in time, remind us of Steichen."

As Steichen shifted his artistic focus to photography, he destroyed nearly all of his painted compositions. Beethoven represents one of the very few surviving paintings and is considered his most remarkable.

Simultaneously realistic and symbolic, Beethoven reflects Steichen’s unmistakable talent for composition, balance and hue. He completed the painting in 1902, immediately receiving critical praise for its commanding nature. Beethoven was hung prominently beside his photos at Steichen’s first solo show in June 1902 at La Maison des Artistes. The artwork was then proudly exhibited at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, and later at the "National Arts Club Special Exhibition of Contemporary Art" in 1908.

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(Biography provided by M.S. Rau)