Retrospective monograph on Steichen's career; produced in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art. Great work; excellent reproductions plus autobiographical reflections. The first edition with the patterned endpapers and color plates. Photographs and text by Edward Steichen

Get to know a great photographer and curator & impresario ...

Arguably one of the most influential American photographer of the twentieth century, this book chronicles the life of Edward Steichen through his photographs. His career spans the latter part of the nineteenth century and extended into the last quarter of the twentieth century. He was responsible for having photography accepted as an art form in the United States and befriended many other artists in other mediums along the way. ( )

Edward Steichen has written a surprisingly readable and interesting autobiography, well-laden with good reproductions of much of his photographic ouvre. I had some familiarity with his more famous photographs, and one of my favorite books of photography is his "Family of Man" collection. But I was surprised to learn what a warmly unassuming and likeable personality he was. We also shared some of the same respect and admiration for other well-known artists and creators. For example, his sister married Carl Sandburg, and the two rapidly became best friends. Steichen was immensely influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and Auguste Rodin early in his career, and much of his fame came from his astonishing photographic portraits of contemporary celebrities. This book also helped change my assumptions about the role of the photographer in controlling the final appearance of the photograph, making intelligent and well-considered choices in lighting, lenses, exposure time and types of developing media. I was also impressed with his humanitarian ideals, particularly well-expressed in his writing about his wartime photography and his work on the "Family of Man". A fine, sumptuous autobiography and body of photography by a man I have developed a further respect for. ( )