George Eastman House presents Edward Steichen's early color work with the exhibition bloom!

Images include flowers, Walden Pond, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Anna May Wong

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — George Eastman House will provide a rare glimpse into celebrated photographer Edward Steichen's personal work with the exhibition bloom! Experiments in Color Photography by Edward Steichen, on view Dec. 1, 2007 through Feb. 3, 2008

Drawn entirely from the George Eastman House collection, this exhibition of more than 40 photographs presents Steichen's views of nature and flowers as well as portraits of his family and celebrities. An avid gardener, Steichen was particularly interested in the hybridization of delphiniums. His use of plants and flowers throughout his personal, commercial, and artistic works reflects this passion for botany.

Steichen (1879-1973) was a photographic pioneer who led the Photo-Secession movement, heralding photography as an art form. George Eastman House holds the Steichen archive of more than 11,000 images. There has been much buzz surrounding Steichen as of late, since a Pictorialist work of Steichen's broke the auction record for the sale of a photograph, in February 2006. The 1904 platinum print titled The Pond-Moonlight fetched $2.9 million, more than doubling the previous record.

Steichen experimented with color photography and is credited with bringing color photography to the United States in 1907 with the autochrome. bloom! surveys Steichen's many uses of early color photography alongside his black-and-white studies of nature. "His calming views of Walden Pond and quiet landscapes taken near his Connecticut home demonstrate his time away from his busy life as a commercial photographer in New York City," said Jamie Allen, curatorial associate for the Department of Photographs, George Eastman House. "His studies show the passing of time experienced through seasons and a communing with nature that complements his well-known Pictorialist works, celebrity portraits, and documentation of war."

The exhibition features portraits of Mrs. Henry Luce, Hawaiian model Kaaloalakini Notley, Eleanor Roosevelt, Frances Farmer, and Anna May Wong, alongside images of his second wife, Dana, and his daughter Mary. Among the noteworthy images are Steichen's stunning photographs Dana's Hands and Birch with Golden Vest, as well as images he created for Ladies Home Journal and Vanity Fair.

The display at Eastman House was a significant part of an exhibition of the same title mounted in Luxembourg this past summer, curated by Christian Mosar and Françoise Poos for Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (MUDAM). Upon viewing the exhibition Octavie Modert, Secretary of State for Culture, Higher Education and Research of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, noted the exhibition "has literally brought these photographs to blossom, demonstrating that their strength and originality have remained unaffected by the passing of time."

Eastman House will present simultaneously (Dec. 1 through March 2, 2008) the exhibition Heroes of Horticulture, which highlights historically significant landscapes at risk of alteration or destruction, documented in 2007 by prominent American photographers.

About Edward Steichen
He was born in Luxembourg and trained as a painter in Milwaukee, but made his name as a photographer in New York. Together with friend Alfred Stieglitz, Steichen also introduced European modernism to American audiences through exhibitions at Stieglitz's gallery 291 and publications, including the important photography journal Camera Work. He shot for Vogue and Vanity Fair beginning in the 1920s, and became director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943. He also served as an advisor to George Eastman House, and was an active member of the Eastman House's Board of Trustees from 1948 to 1967.

At MOMA Steichen was responsible for more than 50 exhibitions and was instrumental in making photographic images acceptable in a museum setting. He also developed the thematic exhibition, the use of captions, mural-size images, and the work of many different photographers to tell an important story. The best known of these is The Family of Man, a humanitarian statement emphasizing the oneness of mankind and the value of all human life, which opened at MOMA in 1955 and traveled the world for many years. Steichen himself considered The Family of Man his greatest achievement.

The Steichen Collection at George Eastman House
George Eastman House holds the world's largest Steichen collection, given as a gift and permanent loan by direction of his widow, Joanna Steichen. The collection features more than 11,000 negatives and prints — many of them Hollywood portraits from the photographer's days with Vogue, Life, and Saturday Evening Post. The gifts from Joanna Steichen were given to Eastman House over two decades, in 1981 and 2001.

"The breadth of the George Eastman House collections, the knowledge and dedication of its staff, its expertise in conservation, all proven over many years, make it the finest possible home for the preservation and study of Steichen's work," said Joanna Steichen, an emeritus member of the George Eastman House Board of Trustees.

In addition to the photographs and negatives, the Eastman House's Steichen holdings include biographical material such as lectures, notes about early photographic processes, and awards and medals, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom bestowed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the nation's highest civilian honor, and records of Steichen's leadership activities with wolf hounds and delphinium societies.

Images represented in the Steichen collection are advertisements, fashion shoots, cityscapes and landscapes, and theatrical performances. A wide array of celebrity portraits include Fred Astaire, Winston Churchill, Noel Coward, Joan Crawford, Walt Disney, Isadora Duncan, Amelia Earhart, Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, Dorothy Parker, Eugene O'Neill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, Shirley Temple, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Florenz Ziegfield.

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