Steichen

Edward (1879-1973). American photographer. We are indebted to him for early color fashion photographs and the first color photographic front cover (Vogue America, 1931). His family emigrated from Luxembourg to the States, where Edward studied art at the Milwaukee Art Students League and then moved to Paris in 1900. Alongside painting he starts practising photography. In 1902, he co-founded Alfred Stieglitz’s Photosecession movement in New York. During World War I, he was a navy and aviation photographer, which greatly influenced his photographic style. Having settled in New York, he gave up painting to concentrate on photography and, in 1923, became the first photographer for Condé Nast’s publications, particularly Vanity Fair and Vogue. His fashion photographs and portraits were the most expensive of the period. He worked a lot with Marion Morehouse, his favorite model. In 1947, he left Condé Nast to become director of the photographic department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.