Book tip : Edward Steichen - A life lived for photography

The Hatje Cantz publishing house have dedicated an opulent and gorgeous picture book to Edward Steichen (1879–1973). He was one of the most influential personalities in the history of photography, his artistic photography is considered amongst the classics of the discipline. He was a successful painter in his youth, he carried out stints as a curator in the USA for renowned exhibitions of artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Rodin, he exhibited masterpieces by other photographer and also turned out to be a talented typographist and graphic artist for advertising. The elaborate publication presents hundreds of pieces from all the disciplines he followed and facets he had.

Edward Steichen was born in 1879, in Bivange, Luxembourg. His family moved to the United States in 1881 and he became a naturalized citizen in 1900.

Steichen’s most important piece of work was his exhibition The Family of Manwhich he put together for the MoMA at the start of the 1950s. It presented an all encompassing portrait of mankind in 37 categories, these included love, religion, birth, work, family, children, war and peace. It was aimed to create a better world after the horror of war. The photography was used as a universal language which everyone would understand.

Edward Steichen - Ein Leben für die Fotografie
336 pages, 250 colour images, 26,60 x 31,50 cm
ISBN 978-3-7757-2065-6

The book accompanies the first European retrospective of his work, which has been exhibited ever since Steichen passed away. The exhibition can currently be viewed until 30.12.2007 in Paris:

Jeu de Paume - Site Concorde
1, place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France
www.jeudepaume.org