Skip to main content

Edward Steichen Art

American, 1879-1973

Though he began his artistic career as a painter, training at the Académie Julian in Paris, Edward Steichen is also known for his role in revolutionizing photography from a commercial tool into an artistic medium. 

Famed artist and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz often featured Steichen’s artwork in the magazine Camera Work, published from 1903 to 1917 as photography gained popularity. Over the years, Steichen served as the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair as well as the Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Steichen’s dramatic, highly stylized compositions and curatorial eye catapulted photography into greater prestige. An art critic quipped in 1905: "One should not say that he recalls Rembrandt but rather, at this rate, that Rembrandt will, in time, remind us of Steichen."

As Steichen shifted his artistic focus to photography, he destroyed nearly all of his painted compositions. Beethoven represents one of the very few surviving paintings and is considered his most remarkable.

Simultaneously realistic and symbolic, Beethoven reflects Steichen’s unmistakable talent for composition, balance and hue. He completed the painting in 1902, immediately receiving critical praise for its commanding nature. Beethoven was hung prominently beside his photos at Steichen’s first solo show in June 1902 at La Maison des Artistes. The artwork was then proudly exhibited at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, and later at the "National Arts Club Special Exhibition of Contemporary Art" in 1908.

Find original Edward Steichen photography and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by M.S. Rau)

to
15
1
12
4
13
3
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
11
15
10
10
8
8
5
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
14
1
1
1
4
1
16
6,886
3,209
2,514
1,217
12
2
2
2
2
Artist: Edward Steichen
Rodin - Le Penseur, Camera Work Steichen Supplement
By Edward Steichen
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Edward Steichen. Rodin - Le Penseur, Camera Work Steichen Supplement. 1906. 6 x 7.25". vintage photogravure.
Category

Early 1900s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Charlie Chaplin, portrait, 1926
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
Photo by Edward Steichen Featured in Vanity Fair, October 1, 1926 Portrait of English actor Charlie Chaplin wearing a suit. Limited Edition Archival ...
Category

Mid-19th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Margaret Shea Johnson, 1934
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
Photo by Edward Steichen Featured in Vogue, September 15, 1934 Margaret Shea Johnson wearing long thin black wool dress with loose sleeves and lamé collar and cuffs Limited Edition...
Category

Mid-20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Three Pears and an Apple, France
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
Three Pears and an Apple, France, c. 1921: The Early Years 1900-1927, 1981 photogravure on BFK Rives Paper image size: 13 x 10 inches paper size: 20 x 15 1/4 inches Edition of 500
Category

1920s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Improvisation: "George Washington"
By Edward Steichen
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Silver gelatin print Edition 78/100 Provenance: General Electric Corporate Collection Heather James Fine Art
Category

20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Eugene ONeill
By Edward Steichen
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Silver gelatin print Provenance: General Electric Corporate Collection Heather James Fine Art
Category

20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Fred Astaire in 'Funny Face', 1927 - Edward Steichen (Photography)
By Edward Steichen
Located in London, GB
Inscribed with photographer's credit, title and date and various annotations in pencil, stamped with Museum of Modern Art Department of Photography and Vogue ink stamps and dated on ...
Category

2010s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

John Barrymore as Hamlet
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
Printed, signed late 90's by George Tice.
Category

1920s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Katherine Cornell
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
Printed, signed late 90's by George Tice.
Category

1930s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Alfred Stieglitz
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
Printed, signed late 90's by George Tice.
Category

1910s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Martha Graham #4, NY
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Greta Garbo, Hollywood
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
In his autobiography, A Life in Photography, Steichen gave a vivid recount of this sitting: 'When Garbo came in to pose for the Vanity Fair photograph, I asked her to sit on the c...
Category

1920s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Greta Garbo, Hollywood
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
In his autobiography, A Life in Photography, Steichen gave a vivid recount of this sitting: 'When Garbo came in to pose for the Vanity Fair photograph, I asked her to sit on the c...
Category

1920s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Coty Lipstick, J. Walter Thompson Agency
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

First Cast of Brancusi's "Bird in Space"
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Stieglitz and Kitty, New York, 1904
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Related Items
"remembering the way" black and white photograph clouds sky bird silhouette
By Marie Navarre
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Marie Navarre remembering the way, 2021 archival digital print on Surface Gampi, Rives BFK 25.5" x 25" unframed 28.75" x 27.75" framed Edition of 5 Marie Navarre’s deep interest in poetry, especially the Japanese form of Haiku, has had a profound influence on her work. She conjures dreamlike images that appear to be from just outside the realm of human observation, like the fragments of a distant memory. She prints her mysterious and timeless images of flocks of birds, grey sky and shimmering endless horizons unmoored from specific times and places, then hand stitches over a background of Gampi paper—a soft, silky Japanese paper that has a satin-like sheen. These enigmatic photographic constructions document the implications of a moment rather than its actuality. The artist understands that her relationship to photography is complex: “I have this trouble of being a photographer but wanting to make the photographs into something else. I still think like a photographer even though in some ways I’m sabotaging the way that photography works. I still begin my artmaking process by making pictures. I don’t know how to begin without the photograph.” At play is the tension of a fixed medium documenting a world in movement. Navarre has a BA, MA and MFA from Arizona State University. Her work is collected nationally and she has received a number of awards including a Capp Street Project Residency Grant in San Francisco for her collaboration with Jim Campbell...
Category

2010s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Storm, Portugal 1999 /Gelatin Silver Print/ Signed
By Ana Maria Cortesão
Located in Coimbra, PT
Street Photography /1999. Portugal / Analog camera photo / B&W 35 mm film. 400 iso / Gelatin Silver Print, Signed, titled, negative date & print date on verso. Ana Maria is visual artist. She had a formal education in Fine Arts. Since 2000 she also is interested in photography and she started by doing theater photography...
Category

1990s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Jayne Mansfield with Seagrams Dogs (Limited Edition of 10, No 6-10) - 30"x40"
By Barry Kramer
Located in New York, NY
Shot by Barry Kramer (1921- 1984), one of the most prolific photographers of his time, captures the essence of 1950's Hollywood movie star, Jane Mansfield...
Category

1950s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Mick Jagger and John Lennon, Abbey Road Studios, London, 1967
By David Mangus
Located in New York, NY
16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.
Category

Mid-20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Grace Slick, San Francisco, CA 1966
By Herb Greene
Located in New York, NY
16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.
Category

Mid-20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

"Beauty at the Window" Black & White Photography Signed, Gelatin Silver Print
By Ana Maria Cortesão
Located in Coimbra, PT
Street Photography /2000. Portugal / Analog camera photo / B&W 35 mm film. 400 iso / Gelatin Silver Print Signed, titled, negative date & print date on verso. Ana Maria is visual ar...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Black and White, Silver Gelatin

Profile of a Zebra (Limited Edition of 5), 40"x60" - Animal Wall Art
By Viet Chu
Located in New York, NY
New York City based wildlife and street photographer Viet Chu, captured this breathtaking monochrome shot of a profile of a Zebra on a Black background. This image was taken in 2016,...
Category

2010s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

Andreas Feininger Monumental B&W Photograph, 1951
By Andreas Feininger
Located in Washington, DC
Large and wonderful B & W photograph by American photographer Andreas Feininger (1906-1999). Photograph is of a gorilla rib cage. Printed in 1951, it measures 8ft. 10 in. x 10ft. Photograph is attached to linen and can be rolled for easy storage and shipping. Feininger was born in Paris, France, the eldest son of Julia Berg, a German Jew, and the American painter and art educator Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956). His paternal grandparents were the German violinist Karl Feininger (1844–1922) and the American singer Elizabeth Feininger, (née Lutz), who was also of German descent. His younger brother was the painter and photographer T. Lux Feininger (1910–2011) In 1908 the Feininger family moved to Berlin, and in 1919 to Weimar, where Lyonel Feininger took up the post of Master of the Printing Workshop at the newly formed Bauhaus art school.[2] Andreas left school at 16, in 1922, to study at the Bauhaus; he graduated as a cabinetmaker in April 1925. Afterwards he studied architecture, initially at the Staatliche Bauschule Weimar (State Architectural College, Weimar) and later at the Staatliche Bauschule Zerbst. (Zerbst is a city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, about 20 km from Dessau, where the Bauhaus moved to in 1926.) The Feininger family moved to Dessau with the Bauhaus. In addition to continuing his architectural studies in Zerbst, Andreas developed an interest in photography and was given guidance by neighbour and Bauhaus teacher László Moholy-Nagy.[3] In 1936, he gave up architecture and moved to Sweden, where he focused on photography. In advance of World War II, in 1939, Feininger immigrated to the U.S. where he established himself as a freelance photographer. In 1943 he joined the staff of Life magazine, an association that lasted until 1962. Feininger became famous for his photographs of New York...
Category

1950s Modern Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Linen, Photographic Paper

Jayne Mansfield with Seagrams Dogs (Limited Edition of 10, No 3-5) - 40"x50"
By Barry Kramer
Located in New York, NY
Shot by Barry Kramer (1921- 1984), one of the most prolific photographers of his time, captures the essence of 1950's Hollywood movie star, Jane Mansfield...
Category

1950s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Archival Pigment

My Grandmother's Corset (Vintage Still Life Photograph of a White Corset)
By David Sokosh
Located in Hudson, NY
Vintage still life photograph of a white antique corset on black "My Grandmother's Corset" by David Sokosh 17 x 11 inches unframed - Wet Plate Collodio...
Category

2010s Victorian Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

"Beauty at the Window" Black & White Photography Signed, Gelatin Silver Print
By Ana Maria Cortesão
Located in Coimbra, PT
Street Photography /2000. Portugal / Analog camera photo / B&W 35 mm film. 400 iso / Gelatin Silver Print Signed, titled, negative date & print date on verso. Ana Maria is visual ar...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photographic Film, Black and White, Silver Gelatin

River Jumping - Portugal 2000 - Gelatin Silver Print - Signed
By Ana Maria Cortesão
Located in Coimbra, PT
Street Photography /2000. Portugal / Analog camera photo / B&W 35 mm film. 400 iso / Gelatin Silver Print, Signed, titled, negative date & print date on verso. Ana Maria is visual ...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin, Photographic Film, Black and White

Previously Available Items
The Flatiron, 1904
By Edward Steichen
Located in Santa Fe, NM
EDWARD STEICHEN. The Flatiron, 1904. Photogravure from The Early Years Portfolio 1900-1927 by Aperture 1980.
Category

Early 20th Century Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Portrait of Alfred Stieglitz
By Edward Steichen
Located in Greenwich, CT
This is a photogravure that came out of a 1930's Camera Works. They are high quality prints from the artist's negatives and were put together in these historic spiral bound books. ...
Category

1910s Aesthetic Movement Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Charlie Chaplin, Hat Trick #1
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Charlie Chaplin, Hat Trick #3
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Steel-work of the George Washington Bridge
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Isadora Duncan at the Portal of the Parthenon, Athens, 1921
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

Early 20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Anna May Wong, 1930
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

20th Century Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Charlie Chaplin, 1928
By Edward Steichen
Located in Westwood, NJ
These selenium toned silver gelatin prints are the photographs of Edward Steichen, printed by the renowned photographer George Tice. Tice was the last person to print for Steichen i...
Category

1920s Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Torso, Paris
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
Torso, Paris, 1902 : The Early Years Portfolio, 1901–1927 photogravure Image Size: 6 1/2 x 8 3/8 inches Paper Size: 20 x 16 inches Ediiton of 500
Category

Early 1900s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Heavy Roses
By Edward Steichen
Located in New York, NY
Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France, 1914 photogravure image size: 8 x 10 inches paper size: 20 x 15 1/4 inches Edition of 500
Category

1910s Edward Steichen Art

Materials

Photogravure

Wheelbarrow With Flower Pots
By Edward Steichen
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Silver gelatin print Edition 78/100 Provenance: General Electric Corporate Collection Heather James Fine Art
Category

Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Sunday Night, 40th Street
By Edward Steichen
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Silver gelatin print Edition 78/100 Provenance: General Electric Corporate Collection Heather James Fine Art
Category

Contemporary Edward Steichen Art

Edward Steichen art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Edward Steichen art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Edward Steichen in silver gelatin print, archival pigment print, intaglio and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Edward Steichen art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Silvia Lareo-Vazquez, Michael O'Brien, and Cindy Sherman. Edward Steichen art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $750 and tops out at $15,000, while the average work can sell for $6,000.

Artists Similar to Edward Steichen

Recently Viewed

View All