Images by Steichen still excite
A new exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art pays tribute to the work of Edward Steichen, the high priest of fashion photography, in a new show titled “In High Fashion: The Condé Nast Years 1923-1937.”
The show of 150 photos — which examines his tenure as chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair during that period — brings into focus the famous faces of that era, including Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, W.C. Fields, Adele and Fred Astaire, Jack Dempsey, H.L. Mencken, Charles Chaplin, Martha Graham, Amelia Earhart and Winston Churchill.
It’s an important collection of work for many reasons, one being that the photographer greatly influenced those who came after him, such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Bruce Weber.
More important, Steichen touched a shutter on a new age in how we view celebrities and our cultural heroes and, by extension, how we would like to see ourselves. He pushed the envelope with his technical abilities but also his artistic vision, turning to such movements as cubism, art deco and surrealism to infuse his work with such cutting-edge aesthetics.
When I see his photos of Gary Cooper or Greta Garbo, they exude a classic yet modern mood with simple backgrounds that are dramatic in their own right but never intrude upon the subject. Too often today, I see photos of the rich and famous, in such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, which, I am guessing, will never achieve iconic status — at least in the sense of an image blurring the line between portraiture and art.
April Watson, associate curator of photography, said this about the show: “What you see in many of the photographs are dramatic contrasts and bold forms, which Steichen knew would hold up in magazine reproductions. He also understood that magazine editors would crop, juxtapose and overlay text.”
She added: “This exhibition, which includes several original magazines, shows not only how Steichen thought of the photographs as single entities, but how they related to one another to create a kind of fantasy or narrative.”
The show runs through July 25, so there is still some time to visit the Kansas City museum and partake of this exhibition as well as upcoming gallery talks and lectures. They include:
Friday, 7 to 8 p.m.: “The Invention of Modern Glamour: Edward Steichen’s ‘In High Fashion,” presented by Watson.
July 17, 1 to 2 p.m.: “Right Time, Right Man, Right Place: Edward Steichen and the Birth of Modern Fashion Photography,” presented by William Ewing, director of the Musée de l’Elysée.
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And more photography is on the way with a separate exhibit opening July 24 titled “Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute.” The free event will feature photos by 27 notable Kansas City Art Institute alumni while acknowledging the rich history of the institute’s photography program from the 1960s to the present. Learn more at www.nelson-atkins.org.
