Edward Steichen - Photographs New York Friday, April 5, 2024 | Phillips
  • In Carl Sandburg’s book Steichen the Photographer, he describes Steichen titling his works ‘in the manner of Chinese painters.’ One such title quoted by Sandburg – Early Hoar Frost on Rambler Rose Vines Climbing a Plumb Tree in my Voulangis Garden – likely refers to the photograph offered here.  

     

    This photograph was originally given by Edward Steichen to poet, journalist, and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. Steichen was introduced to Sandburg by his sister Lilian in 1907 on the Steichen family’s farm in Wisconsin. The two young men shared an intensity of interest in their respective fields, as well as a belief in finding an artistic voice that was distinctly American yet also emphatically new. Sandburg and Lilian Steichen married in 1908, thus cementing the personal and professional ties between the writer and photographer, ushering in a decades-long period of mutual creativity. Sandburg was a frequent subject for Steichen’s lens, and Steichen designed the jacket for Sandburg’s first book of poems. In 1929, Sandburg published Steichen The Photographer, a limited edition retrospective monograph. The two collaborated on a number of photography-related projects including the wartime Museum of Modern Art exhibition, Road to Victory. Throughout their lives, the two maintained a friendship characterized by a deep admiration of the work of the other. 

    • Provenance

      The photographer to Carl Sandburg
      By descent to his daughter, Helga Sandburg

    • Literature

      Joanna Steichen, Steichen's Legacy: Photographs 1895-1973, pl. 265

369

Snow Frost

1920
Palladium print.
7 5/8 x 9 5/8 in. (19.4 x 24.4 cm)

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $12,700

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Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com
 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024