Product Description

Not since 1929 has there been a biography of Edward Steichen, photographer, painter, and a pivotal yet enigmatic figure in twentieth-century art and culture on two continents. Steichen, who died just short of his ninety-fourth birthday, was fifty and internationally famous when Steichen the Photographer was written by his brother-in-law, the poet and biographer Carl Sandburg. Now Penelope Niven, whose highly acclaimed biography of Sandburg appeared in 1991, has written the first comprehensive biography of Steichen.

Here, she illuminates the full story of Steichen's avant-garde life in Paris and New York and his roles in introducing modern art to the American audience, in shaping aerial reconnaissance photography in World War I and navy photography in World War II, in revolutionizing American fashion and portrait photography through his years as chief of photography at Vanity Fair and Vogue, and in creating the unprecedented photographic exhibition The Family of Man, which has touched a global audience of millions since it opened in 1955.

Searching the world over for Steichen's letters, paintings, and photographs, Niven has reconstructed his major, pioneering achievements. Steichen's enduring contributions to the fine art of photography have not been fully recognized because they have not, until now, been fully documented and placed within the context of his times and his turbulent, romantic, and often tragic personal life.

With the help of public and private papers and interviews, Niven builds a compelling portrait of the charismatic, complex, very human man behind the camera. We explore Steichen's gardens and his artful love of nature, manifested in his obsessive achievements as a master breeder of delphinium. We step inside his intimate, private world--and view his passionate attachment to his mother, his sister, and his two daughters; the heartrending battles of his first marriage; and his alleged and actual love affairs. This biography also explores Steichen's catalytic relationships with August Rodin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and Carl and Lilian Steichen Sandburg.

"Steichen was a rebel, stubbornly independent and largely self-taught, who also believed passionately in the fundamental intersections of art and life," Penelope Niven writes. As this biography reveals, Edward Steichen's life, like his art, was brilliantly original, dramatic, and unforgettable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1586384 in Books
• Published on: 1997-11-11
• Released on: 1997-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 770 pages

Amazon.com Review
From his legendary association with Alfred Stieglitz in the groundbreaking 291 Gallery to his selection of photographs for The Family of Man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Edward Steichen (1879-1973) stood at the forefront of artistic innovation in America and Europe. Penelope Niven, biographer of Carl Sandburg (Steichen's brother-in-law), affectionately depicts her subject. She carefully assesses Steichen's three marriages, his supportive relationships with other artists, and the humanistic vision that informed his photography. Her comprehensive study reminds us of Steichen's central role in elevating photography to a crucial 20th-century art form.

From Kirkus Reviews
While working on her well-received biography of Carl Sandburg (1991), Niven became fascinated by the poet's brother-in-law, the pioneering photographer Edward Steichen (18791973). That fascination led to this massive volume. Steichen is a pivotal figure in the history of the visual arts in 20th-century America, a brilliant photographer who was at the center of the battle for recognition of that medium. A protean figure, Steichen was not only an artist but a scientist and a war hero. He acquired his first camera at 16; by the age of 20 he was exhibiting in prestigious juried shows. But the key event in Steichen's young adulthood was his sojourn in Paris, where he discovered his true calling as an artist, forged friendships with a number of influential artists, including Rodin and Picasso, and emerged as a major figure in the burgeoning world of photography. He would push his art form to the forefront with the exhibit ``The Family of Man'' in the mid-'50s, still the most widely seen photo show in history. All through his lengthy career, Steichen would be hounded by an unhappy marriage that left him estranged from one of his two daughters for many years (his granddaughters cooperated with Niven for this volume). His achievements are so many, his career so long and the ripples emanating from his circle of acquaintances of photographers, painters, and writers so variegated that it would be hard to encapsulate his life in fewer pages than Niven uses. One seldom has a strong sense of Steichen's complex personality, but the life is rich enough that one's attention never flags. And Niven's handling of Steichen's turbulent personal life is candid without being prurient. Highly informative, and an absolute necessity for understanding the development of photography as an art form in the first half of this century. (50 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
Niven provides an exhaustive, oftentimes excessively meticulous, yet ultimately reverent year-by-year account of his life.... -- The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Neil Baldwin

Nivens ... complements her own clear, lyrical voice with the eloquent words of Steichen's contemporaries.... for the most part she succeeds in weaving the many threads of Steichen's life into a seamless narrative. -- The New York Times Book Review, Jake Miller

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read!
This book may look formidable by its size, but what a wonderful world you will enter once you begin the story of this photographic genius and his place in time. Niven's work is carefully researched and Steichen's relationships with Steiglitz, Rodin and other artistic greats of the turn of the century are all detailed . She carefully documents his work at the Army and Navy, Vanity Fair, and MOMA. Of added interest is the story about his sister's marriage to Carl Sandburg and the close relationship Steichen and Sandburg devleoped. Enjoy!

The only biography about an extraordinary man
Surprisingly, this is the only biography I have found so far about Edward Steichen. Thank goodness it is an excellent one, combining extraordinary research with fine writing. For those interested in Edward Steichen's long and productive life as well as his work, this is a "must have" book, especially now that there is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Well written, well researched and well documented.
Steichen was a genius, and never more so than when he influenced Alfred Steiglitz to show Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Marin, etc for the first time ever in the United States. Steiglitz is given credit, sometimes wholly, but truly it wouldn't have happened without Steichen. I recommend this wonderful book!