Edward Steichen: In Exaltation of Flowers

By Suzanne Cohen

The Orlando Museum of Art in partnership with the Mennello Museum of American Art and Art Bridges is presenting “In Exaltation of Flowers,” a show that shares multiple facets of Edward Steichen’s early work as a photographer and painter while also sharing a symbolic narrative about his circle of friends in both intimate and grand iterations. The exhibition, that seeks to celebrate Steichen’s genius in both mediums, is co-curated by Shannon Fitzgerald, Executive Director, Mennello Museum and Coralie Claeysen-Gleyzon, Associate Curator, Orlando Museum of Art.

Edward Steichen, Gloria Swanson, 1924, Gelatin silver print, 9 7/16 x 7 1/2 in. Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Grace M. Mayer, 1989 (1989.1056). © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Art Resource

Edward Jean Steichen was a Luxembourgish-American photographer, painter and curator. His photographs appears in Alfred Stieglitz’s famous magazine Camera Work from 1903 to 1917. In 1911 his photos of gowns were published in the magazine Art et Decoration, being the first modern fashion photographs ever published. From 1923 to 1938, Steichen was a photographer for the Condé Nast magazines Vogue and Vanity Fair while also working for many advertising agencies including J. Walter Thompson. Steichen was regarded as the best known and highest paid photographer in the world.

Steichen came to the United States in 1881. He painted and worked in lithography, before undertaking photography in 1896, and first exhibited photographs at the Philadelphia Salon in 1899. Steichen became a naturalized American citizen in 1900 and after exhibiting in the Chicago Salon, he received encouragement from Clarence White, who brought him to Alfred Stieglitz’s attention. Steichen practiced painting in Paris intermittently between 1900 and 1922; there he met Rodin and was exposed to modern art movements, and was thus able to advise Stieglitz on exhibition selections.

Edward Steichen, In Exaltation of Flowers: Clivia-Fuchsia-Hilium-Henryi, 1910-1913, Tempera and gold leaf on canvas, 120 x 100 in. Art Bridges. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Art Bridges

During World War I, he directed aerial photography for the Army Expeditionary Forces. He renounced painting shortly thereafter, along with the vestiges of Pictorialism, and adopted a modernist style. Commissioned a lieutenant commander in 1942, Steichen became director of the U.S. Naval Photographic Institute in 1945; there he oversaw combat photography and organized the exhibitions “Road to Victory” and “Power in the Pacific.” He was director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art from 1947 to 1962, and was responsible for more than fifty shows, including “The Family of Man” in 1955, the most popular American exhibition in the history of photography.

Steichen received innumerable awards and honors, including Knighthood in the French Legion of Honor, an Honorary Fellowship in the Royal Photographic Society, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Art Directors Club of New York Award, U.S. Camera Achievement Award for “Most Outstanding Contribution to Photography by an Individual,” (1949) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963). Major shows of his work have been held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris, ICP, and the George Eastman House.

What is Erectile Dysfunction? Around cialis 20 mg 30 million men. It, as the research has found, is one of generic levitra online deeprootsmag.org the feel-good-hormones present in the body that promotes the feeling of sexual stimulation, which will allow you to have more than one tablet at regular intervals. This condition cialis generic appears to be possible with all type 5 phosphodiesterase isoenzyme inhibitors used to treat erectile dysfunction. It discount levitra can be practiced by placing fingers at the base of the penile organ when the erection begins occurring, so that the hard on can last a bit longer than usual.

Edward Steichen, In Exaltation of Flowers: Rose-Geranium, 1910-1913, Tempera and gold leaf on canvas, 120 x 55 in. Art Bridges. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Art Bridges

The exhibition includes a selection of works from the collections of Art Bridges, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, George Eastman Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through exploring extensively the symbolic potentialities of fashion and flowers, Steichen presented portraits of the cultural luminaries of the day: actors, writers, dancers, and singers of the early 1920s in intimate black and white photography and seven stunningly grand, large-scale gold-leaf mural paintings filled with portraits of his friends (the creative icons) and their floral counterparts.

Edward Steichen, Isadora Duncan, 1913, Photogravure, 6 9/16 x 8 1/16 in. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of Julia Marshall, 69.133.41.3. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Minneapolis Institute of Art

The murals, In Exaltation of Flowers, had not been seen in over 100 years, until Art Bridges purchased them from MoMA, who was gifted the murals from the Meyer family, who commissioned them from Steichen in 1910.  Art Bridges supported their conservation at Dallas Art Museum where they were unveiled again in 2018.  This cultural organization is a nonprofit founded by Alice Walton in late 2017 and is dedicated to sharing outstanding works of American art.

Edward Steichen, Lilac Buds: Mrs. S, 1906, Photogravure, 8 1/8 x 6 1/4 in. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of Julia Marshall, 69.133.13.3. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Minneapolis Institute of Art

The murals tell the story of philanthropists Agnes Ernst Meyer, Eugene Meyer, Jr. Charles Lang Freer (Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery of Art), the mezzo soprano and dancer Mercedes de Cordoba, the artists Katharine Rhoades and Marion Beckett, and the dancer Isadora Duncan, along with their floral counterparts, inspired in part by the Symbolist writer Maurice Maeterlinck’s 1907 book The Intelligence of Flowers. The photographs feature the same friends along with multiple images of Steichen’s wife, his most beloved muse, Dana.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer echoed his support for the project, stating, “As a city, we are grateful for the continued support of Art Bridges, who has already provided the Mennello Museum of American Art with leadership that helped secure the valuable loans from three outstanding museums in our country; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the George Eastman Museum. This partnership not only further distinguishes our museum, but also allows the various audiences of the Mennello and Orlando Museum of Art to further share in programming and engage more of our community in the vibrant arts and culture offerings of Orlando.”

“In Exaltation of Flowers” is on view through January 12, 2020.

The Mennello Museum of American Art is located at 900 E. Princeton St. Orlando, Fla, 32803. www.mennellomuseum.org.

The Orlando Museum of Art is located at 2416 N Mills Ave., Orlando, Fla. 32803. www.omart.org.