Edward Steichen archive, 1880-1996 (bulk 1880-1986).

ArchivalResource

Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973. Edward Steichen archive, 1880-1996 (bulk 1880-1986).

Edward Steichen archive, 1880-1996 (bulk 1880-1986).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/757828790

Research collection amassed in the 1960s-1980s documenting the life and work of Edward Steichen (1879-1973): painter, designer, photographer, museum curator, exhibition organizer, filmmaker. The Edward Steichen Archive consists of deliberately selected primary and secondary materials (a so-called artificial collection) about Edward Steichen's personal and family life; his work in painting, design, photography, museum administration, exhibition organization, horticulture, and film; his contact with and promotion of modern artists in the United States; the awards and citations he received; and documentation of all these activities in print and on television, radio, and film. Includes original and photocopied correspondence and notes; photographic prints and negatives, glass and film slides, and moving images; clippings, tear-sheets, catalogues, and engravers' proofs; audio tapes, records, and cassettes; awards, citations, medals, and plaques; as well as published books and posters. The Archive is overwhelmingly material about Steichen, not created by him. Its curator Grace M. Mayer researched tirelessly: following leads, maintaining extensive correspondence, and documenting new discoveries as well as errors and inconsistencies in the previous written record by and about Edward Steichen, while collecting both information and physical objects for the Archive. She preferenced scope and completeness over original material, as evidenced by the large amount of photocopies, news clippings, and typed excerpts from previously published material that she included, as well as her own notes and cross-references. The range of her correspondents - including artists, collectors, critics, curators, Steichen family members, as well as some of their current and ex-spouses and lovers - and her detailed notes on events both small and large give evidence of her thoroughness and determination to elucidate every aspect of Edward Steichen's personal and professional life. The Archive is valuable for researchers interested in all facets of Edward Steichen's personal and professional accomplishments. It serves as an encyclopedic introduction and points to the variety of other sources of information on him, including MoMA and other museums, libraries, government repositories, and archival collections. Unique to the Archive are documentation from the 1980s of Edward Steichen's paintings (see Series VII. A) that is the closest to a catalogue raisonée currently available on these works; information on and extensive photographic documentation of his delphinium breeding (see Series VII); and installation photographs by Apeda Studio of the flight-themed photomurals he created for the Men's Smoking Room at the Center Theater, Radio City (see Series VII), since dismantled. Also notable are the many portraits taken of Edward Steichen (see Series VIII), for publication and as gifts to him and Joanna Steichen, by a range of notable 20th century photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Lotte Jacobi, Wayne Miller, Irving Penn, and Milton Rogovin.

55.3 linear ft. (84 boxes, 1 drawer)

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)