Edward Steichen : The Luxembourg Bequest

In March 1985, the National Museum of Luxembourg unexpectedly received a generous bequest from the estate of Edward Steichen, the Luxembourg-born and world-renowned American photographer. The bequest comprises a total of 178 prints, including 175 photographs by Steichen himself that cover almost all aspects of his photographic oeuvre — from the pictorialist images of his early years to portraiture, fashion, advertising, landscapes, and family photographs.

For the first time, this extraordinary collection is presented in a comprehensive scholarly manner, with full-page illustrations of all 178 photographs. In addition, the publication includes six new essays by five authors that deal with questions of identification, techniques, and dating of the prints as well as their conservation and preservation. They examine the provenance and impact history of the collection and compare the significance of the Luxembourg donation with other bequests made at the same time to institutions in the United States and overseas.

The significance of the astonishingly large number of family photographs in the Luxembourg bequest and Steichen’s special role as a mediator of Modernism between Europe and the New World are also explored.

Texts by: Kerstin Bartels Gerd Hurm, Julia Niewind, Malgorzata Nowara, Michel Polfer, Françoise Poos, Gilles Zeimet