by a mutual acquaintance; they became trusted
friends. This friendship gave birth to a series of
pictures of the great master’s bronzes such as
Rodin-Le Penseur, of 1902, orBalzac de Rodin,of
1908, which were widely circulated and admired.
Back in New York in 1902, Steichen, Stieglitz,
and others of their circle founded the Photo-Seces-
sion group, with Steichen designing the cover of the
initial issue ofCamera Work; he also worked on a
publicity campaign to launch the magazine. He
began experimenting with color techniques, partic-
ularly the autochrome process, completing color
studies of the Flatiron building as early as 1904.
In 1905, with Stieglitz, he opened The Little Gal-
leries of the Photo-Secession at 291 Fifth Avenue,
which quickly became better known as Gallery 291.
Mostly because of Steichen’s study of and acquain-
tance with modern painting, the space rapidly
became a privileged site for the emerging giants of
European modernism—Paul Ce ́zanne, Henri
Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Constantin Brancusi—
American modernists such as John Marin, and in
a radical move, photographs. In 1908, Steichen
moved to Voulangis, outside Paris, where he pur-
sued an interest in cultivating flowers and develop-
ing hybrids (he later established the Umpawaug
Plant Breeding Farm in West Redding, Connecti-
cut), moving back to New York at the outbreak of
World War I.
In 1913, Stieglitz, a tireless supporter of Steichen’s
work (although later the relationship between the
two cooled) published a double issue ofCamera
Workdevoted to his Pictorialist work of Steichen
(Across the Salt Marshes, Huntingtonof 1905), his
first attempts in experimental photography using
plant subjects (Heavy Rosesof 1914 and Lotus,
Mount Kisco, New York of 1915), and insects.
Many of these pictures were the result of his con-
tinuing fascination with color processes. During
these years, Steichen also realized nudes, portraits
of artists (Henri Matisse and the Serpentine, 1909),
and New York and Paris intelligentsia, using var-
iously platinum, silver, and arabic gum processes,
often retouching his prints with paint, as was typical
of the Pictorialists. Steichen’s work in this arena
remains among the most important in art history.
With the outbreak of World War I, Steichen
joined the army in 1917; he was assigned to the
aerial photography services, doing pioneering
work in this field. He eventually became comman-
der of the photographic division of the American
Expeditionary Forces, and, shocked by what he
witnessed on the Western Front, Steichen began
to question his quest with artistic photography,
later writing, ‘‘I am no longer concerned with pho-tography as an art form. I believe it is potentially
the best medium for explaining man to himself and
his fellow man.’’ He left the army in 1919, at which
time he officially changed his first name, cementing
his identity as a modern American. He continued
to travel between France and New York, and gave
up the Pictorialist style in order to work on highly
contrasted images, using tight close-ups. Land-
scape is replaced by object or still-life studies, and
he completed important series including a cup and
its saucer, eggs (Triumph of the Eggof 1921), fruit
(Three Apples and a Pearof 1921), and plants (Sun-
flower Seedsof 1920). These images are markedly
modern, becoming almost abstract when he
focused on architectural and architectonic forms
as seen in works such asMilk Bottles, Spring New
Yorkin 1915 andTime-Space Continuumin 1920.
In 1922, Steichen returned from France to New
York and married his second wife, Dana Desboro.
This year, he also repudiated painting and burned
many of his canvases.
From 1923 to 1938, Steichen was active as a
commercial assignment photographer, completing
commissions for magazines includingVanity Fair
and Vogue. He became chief photographer for
Conde ́ Nast publications and worked for the
advertising giant J. Walter Thompson. It is his
photographs of this period that are perhaps best
known to the popular audience. HisVanity Fair
portraits in particular became renowned, such as,
that of screen sirens Greta Garbo (1928), whom he
photographed in a dramatic black wrap, and Mar-
le`ne Dietrich reclining in an armchair (1932). He
also completed close-up portraits producing one of
the iconic images of twentieth-century photogra-
phy,Gloria Swanson, New York 1924, in which
thefemme fatale’s face is veiled by black lace. He
also made now-famous portraits of actor and
singer Paul Robeson, and a striking multiple pro-
file portrait of poet Carl Sandburg.
AtVogue, Steichen redefined fashion photogra-
phy, conceiving it within the framework of the
avant-garde movements with which he was so
familiar. He innovated by using not a single source
of studio lighting, but many, including cross-light-
ing that highlighted details such as the garment’s
construction and fabric, as can be seen inConde ́
Nast Fashion, Lenore Ulric, 1932. During this per-
iod, Steichen made no distinction between com-
mercial work and his personal, fine arts work,
and he worked tirelessly to see that photography
was recognized as an art medium. Part of this battle
was the recognition of modern art in general; and
from 1926 to 1928, Steichen instituted proceedings
against the American government in order to proveSTEICHEN, EDWARD