Later Work
The initial publication of Ansel Adams' image Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico was in U.S. Camera Annual 1943, after being selected by Steichen, who was serving as "photo judge" for the publication. This gave Moonrise an audience before its first formal exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1944.
During World War II, he served as Director of the Naval Aviation Photographic Unit. His war documentary The Fighting Lady won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary. After the war, Steichen served until 1962 as the Director of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
Among other accomplishments, Steichen is appreciated for creating The Family of Man in 1955, a vast exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art consisting of over 500 photos that depicted life, love and death in 68 countries. Steichen's brother-in-law, Carl Sandburg, wrote a "Prologue" for the exhibition catalog. As had been Steichen's wish, the exhibition was donated to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is now permanently housed in the Luxembourg town of Clervaux.
On December 6, 1963, Steichen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
In 1970, an evening show was presented in Arles during The Rencontres d'Arles festival: "Edward Steichen, photographe" by Martin Boschet.
A show of early color photographs by Steichen was held at Mudam Luxembourg from July 14 to September 3, 2007.
Steichen purchased a farm that he called Umpawaug in 1928, just outside West Redding, Connecticut. Steichen lived there until his death in 1973. After his death, Steichen's farm was made into a park, known as Topstone Park. Topstone Park is open seasonally to this day.
Read more about this topic: Edward Steichen
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid of value if it does not offer the hardness, the rigidity, the regularity, the luster on every interior and exterior facet, of the crystal.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)
“It is easy to see that what is best written or done by genius in the world, was no man’s work but came by wide social labor, when a thousand wrought like one, sharing the same impulse.”
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