Edward Steichen in Vienna

Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Winston Churchill, Katherine Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Cecil B. De Mille, George Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier – commissioned by Vogue and Vanity Fair, Edward Steichen (1879–1973) – one of the 20th century's most important photography pioneers – had them all, and many more, in front of his camera.

The WestLicht Photo Museum is dedicating an exhibition to Edward Steichen. "In High Fashion the years from 1923 to 1937", covers the time when Steichen was chief photographer for Condé Nast Publishers and was responsible for revolutionizing fashion and magazine photography. The exhibition presents around 200 impressive and rare vintage prints from the Condé Nast archives.

Already at the beginning of his career, Steichen was one of the most important proponents of Pictorialism, a movement influenced by Impressionism that tried, by using high-quality printing processes, to place photography side by side with painting, as a valuable, artistic form of expression. In the years before the First World War, he established himself as a pioneer of a more objective photography. In 1923 he became chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, which was considered the most renowned position in the field of commercial photography. During the following 15 years he would set completely new standards for this profession.

Nowadays, the twenties and thirties are considered Steichen's most creative years, producing some of the best known photographs of the 20th century.

Further information at: Westlicht