Steichen. Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography.

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. Published in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art. Constituting Steichen's autobiography, this is an essential work on one of the most influential of 20th century photographers. From the early 1900s, when he was one of the most important members of the Photo Secession, the group of leading Pictorialist photographers organized and led by Alfred Stieglitz, to his middle years as an influential and highly successful photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, to his senior service as Director of Photography for the Museum of Modern Art in New York where he curated the Family of Man and many other exhibitions, Steichen (1879–1973) cast a wide swath in the world of photography. Steichen also was an American patriot, serving in both World War I and World War II, the latter as the oldest commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. Among other accomplishments, Steichen had a major role in the production of the U.S. Camera Annual, edited and published by Tom Maloney, from its inception in 1935 until Steichen assumed his duties at MoMA in 1947. In this  book, Steichen reminiscences on his career, along with many excellently reproduced photographs. The first printing has color and duotone illustrations lacking in later reprints and no ISBN number which was introduced in 1969. Summary:

Edward Steichen: A Life in Photography (originally published in 1963 by Doubleday & Company in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art) is a monumental, definitive autobiography and retrospective monograph. Published when Steichen was 84 years old, the 282-page volume stands as his personal and artistic valedictory, organizing a legendary six-decade career into a singular, cohesive narrative.

Key Elements of the Work

• A Career-Spanning Retrospective: The book features 249 meticulously selected plates that trace Steichen's unparalleled chameleonic evolution. It captures his entire creative trajectory: his early 1900s atmospheric, painterly Pictorialist masterworks (such as The Flatiron and The Pond-Moonlight), his co-founding of the Photo-Secession with Alfred Stieglitz, and his post-WWI pivot toward sharp-focus "straight photography."

• Commercial and Celebrity Canonization: A substantial portion of the monograph documents his groundbreaking tenure as the chief photographer for Condé Nast publications (Vogue and Vanity Fair) during the 1920s and 1930s. The plates showcase his revolutionary, highly stylized portraits of the era's cultural elite—including Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, and Gloria Swanson—which effectively invented modern celebrity and fashion iconography.

• Wartime and Editorial Leadership: Steichen chronicles his profound shifts into documentary and command photography. The book details his leadership of the U.S. Army's aerial photography section in World War Ill, his command of the U.S. Naval Aviation Photographic Unit in the Pacific during World War II, and his subsequent influential tenure as MoMA's Director of the Department of Photography, where he curated the landmark 1955 exhibition The Family of Man.

• First-Person Historical Testimony: Beyond a mere picture book, the volume is driven by Steichen's extensive autobiographical text. He writes with sharp clarity about his artistic philosophies, his technical breakthroughs, his complex relationships with contemporary artists, and his lifelong quest to elevate photography from a mechanical craft into a vital tool for human communication and global empathy.

Narrative Intent

The autobiography functions as the ultimate institutional and self-directed canonization of Edward Steichen. By unifying his fine-art breakthroughs, mass-media commercial conquests, and wartime documentation within a single volume, Steichen successfully argues that photography's true power lies in its versatility—proving that a master artist can fluidly navigate art, commerce, and history without compromising their creative soul.

Copies available:

• 1st printing with color reproductions, fine with very good price clipped dust jacket that has a vertical slit on front cover.
• 1st printing with color reproductions, lacks dust jacket, with custom made 4 mil polyester protector, cloth worn at extremities, near very good.
• Early reprint without dust jacket, without the color photos (reproduced in black-and-white), no ISBN number on back of title page, book plate of previous owner inside front cover, very good with vertical scratch on rear cover.