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Self-Portrait

Edward J. Steichen American, born Luxembourg
1899
Not on view
Steichen made this self-portrait in Milwaukee, shortly before leaving for Europe to seek his fortune as a "painter-photographer." En route to Paris, he stopped by the New York Camera Club to show his work to Alfred Stieglitz, the reigning dean of art photography. That day, Stieglitz bought this photograph, along with two other platinum prints, for five dollars apiece, telling his young visitor, "I am robbing you at that."

In this eccentric self-portrait of the artist as a young dandy, Steichen seems poised at a threshhold, hovering half-in and half-out of the frame. Much like Whistler, Steichen used the portrait as a vehicle for exploring abstract elements of design, cleverly punctuating the white wall behind him with a tiny empty picture frame.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Self-Portrait
  • Artist: Edward J. Steichen (American (born Luxembourg), Bivange 1879–1973 West Redding, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1899
  • Medium: Platinum print
  • Dimensions: 19.8 x 9.2 cm. (7 13/16 x 3 5/8 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1933
  • Object Number: 33.43.1
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

More Artwork
The Big White Cloud, Lake George, Edward J. Steichen American, born Luxembourg, Direct carbon print
The Big White Cloud, Lake George
Edward J. Steichen
1903, printed 1904
Powder Horn, Horn (cow), lead, American
Powder Horn
American
18th century
Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut, Paul Strand American, Silver-platinum print
Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut
Paul Strand
1916
The Flatiron, Edward J. Steichen American, born Luxembourg, Gum bichromate over platinum print
The Flatiron
Edward J. Steichen
1904
Man and Two Women (Henderson Ledger Artist B), Frank Henderson Native American, Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper, Arapaho
Man and Two Women (Henderson Ledger Artist B)
Frank Henderson
ca. 1882

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