PHOTO: Gelatin Silver Print of Willa Cather, framed.
Steichen’s Famous Portrait
[Cather, Willa]. Steichen, Edward. Portrait Photograph of Cather. New York: August 24, 1927.
Gelatin Silver Print: 7 x 8 ¾ inches within mat; 16 ¼ x 18 ¼ within frame.
Steichen took this often reproduced portrait photo of Cather on the occasion of her August 24, 1927 sitting scheduled to coincide with the publication of Death Comes for the Archbishop; that sitting resulted in the now canonical portrait photo which adorns the dust-jackets of Cather biographies by E.K. Brown and Hermione Lee. That day Cather inscribed three of her books to Steichen, two of which are present in this collection: A Lost Lady (1924), and a new edition of My Ántonia (1926).
One of the most influential photographers of the 20th-century, Luxembourg-born Edward Steichen (1879-1973) began his career as a painter but gained recognition abroad and made his name in the United States with his photographic work. In the course of his career he left his mark in the art world, as co-founder with Alfred Stieglitz of Photo-Secession (“291”) and Camera Works in 1905 and as the director of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art from 1947-62 (The Edward Steichen Photography Center was established at MoMA in 1964).
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