{"data":{"id":"1276","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1276,"topgoose_id":760,"tms_id":1276,"display_name":"Edward Steichen","sort_name":"Steichen Edward","display_date":"1879–1973","begin_date":"1879","end_date":"1973","biography":"\u003cp\u003eEdward Steichen was one of the most important American photographers of the early twentieth century. A contemporary of \u003ca href=\"/artists/1292\"\u003eAlfred Stieglitz\u003c/a\u003e and F. Holland Day, Steichen began his career as a painter and a photographer in the atmospheric and painterly style of Pictorialism. Following service in World War I as an aerial photographer, Steichen abandoned painting and began to develop a more modernist approach to photography, presenting his subjects with greater volume, scale, and clarity of form. At the age of forty-four, after receiving recognition among artistic circles in the United States and Europe, he began a career in the commercial world.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom 1923 to 1937 Steichen worked as chief photographer for Condé Nast Publications, photographing actors, writers, artists, and statesmen for \u003cem\u003eVanity Fair\u003c/em\u003e and fashion and society figures for \u003cem\u003eVogue\u003c/em\u003e. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/42562\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePaul Robeson as the Emperor Jones\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e depicts Robeson as Brutus Jones in the 1933 film adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s \u003cem\u003eThe Emperor\nJones\u003c/em\u003e. Steichen portrays the compelling\nstrength of the Jones character as\nwell as the powerful presence of Robeson,\nan actor, singer, scholar, and political\nand social rights activist. The dramatic,\nabstract framing of Robeson and the\nstarkly contrasting light and shadow are\nhallmarks of Steichen’s influential style.\nYet it is Steichen’s ability to “awaken\na genuine response” in his subjects that\nmade him one of the greatest portrait\nphotographers of his day.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500000431","wikidata_id":"Q313899","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:50:13.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:02:01.895-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1276/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1276/exhibitions"}}}}