Black cat autochrome by Steichen

**Edward Jean Steichen ~** Portrait of the Misses Sawyer, ca. 1914. Autochrome | src MoMA

Steichen’s Delphiniums, late 1930s

**Edward Steichen ~** Delphiniums, Ridgefield, Connecticut, 1939; printed 1940. Dye transfer photograph. | src NGV

**Edward Steichen ~** Block of blue wave delphiniums at Steichen’s plant breeding farm, 1938 | NGV ~ National Gallery of Victoria

**Edward Steichen** (American, b. Luxembourg, 1879–1973) ~ Delphiniums, ca. 1940. Dye imbibition print. | Eastman museum

Edward Steichen: painter, photographer, modern art promoter, museum curator, exhibition creator—and delphinium breeder.

Yes, in addition to his groundbreaking career as a visual artist and museum professional, Steichen was also a renowned horticulturist. While he lived in France, the French Horticultural Society awarded him its gold medal in 1913, and he served as president of the American Delphinium Society from 1935 to 1939. In the early 1930s, after leaving his position as chief of photography for the Condé Nast publications—including Vogue and Vanity Fair—and more than 10 years before beginning his career as Director of the Department of Photography at MoMA, he retired to his Connecticut farm to raise flowers.

Among the delphinium breeds Steichen hybridized there were “Carl Sandburg,” named for his brother-in-law and close friend (and Nobel Prize–winning poet and author), and, in the 1960s, “Connecticut Yankees”…

In June 1936, MoMA presented its first and only dedicated flower show, Edward Steichen’s Delphiniums, which exhibited—for one week only—plants Steichen had raised and then trucked to the Museum’s galleries himself. (Read the original press release for the exhibition in MoMA’s online press archives.)

quoted from MoMA blog

Edward Steichen with delphiniums (ca. 1938), Umpawaug House (Redding, Connecticut). Photo by Dana Steichen. Gelatin silver print. Edward Steichen Archive, VII. The Museum of Modern Art Archives. | MoMA blog

Dana Steichen colour portraits

Edward Steichen ~ [Dana Steichen draped in shawl], ca. 1920. Cyanotype and palladium print. | src George Eastman museum — **Edward Steichen ~** [Dana Steichen draped in shawl], ca. 1920. Cyanotype and palladium print. | src George Eastman museum

**Edward Steichen ~** Dana Steichen Holding a Sunflower, ca. 1924. Cyanotype and palladium print. | src George Eastman Museum

**Edward Steichen ~** [Dana Steichen draped in shawl], ca. 1920. Cyanotype and experimental process. | src George Eastman Museum

Dana Steichen by Steichen

**Edward Steichen ~** Dana [Desboro Glover] Steichen holding an Apple ca. 1923. Dye imbibition print. | George Eastman Museum

After a quiet romance, Steichen married the actress Dana Desboro Glover in March 1923 in Blairstown, New Jersey, where Dana’s family owned a farm. From 1928 on they lived together on a large farm in West Redding, Connecticut where Steichen continued his extensive work in plant genetics, breeding award-winning delphiniums and other flowers. A strikingly modern glass home they built there continues to garner praise for its extraordinary siting and craftsmanship. Up until 1927, they also spent a part of each summer at Steichen’s home in Voulangis. Dana Steichen died in 1957 after thirty-four years of marriage. (quoted from E.S. Estate)