The Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA) has announced an free online teaching platform dedicated to Edward Steichen's historic exhibition “The Family of Man.” This new online platform will provide additional resources for educators and enrich the exhibition experience for students ages 6-19. Available in French, German, and English, the site provides in depth historical information about Edward Steichen and his work and gives further context to the exhibition. Interactive and multidisciplinary teaching guides as well as wide range of activities are available. Registration is free. For more information, please visit www.thefamilyofman.education.

Image: Edward Steichen. “The Family of Man” in Moscow, 1959. © 2021 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The George Eastman Museum holds one of the world’s most important collections of twentieth-century photography, including major holdings of work by Edward Steichen

Image: Edward Steichen. Gloria Swanson, 1924. Gelatin silver print. Digital image courtesy of the George Eastman Museum. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Steichen family papers consist of photographs, correspondence, writings, exhibition materials, legal papers, genealogical materials, audiovisual materials, digital media, and other papers relating to Edward J. Steichen and members of his family, including his wives Clara Smith Steichen, Dana Steichen, and Joanna T. Steichen, his daughters Mary Steichen Calderone and Charlotte "Kate" Rodina Steichen, his granddaughters Linda and Nell Martin and Francesca Calderone-Steichen and Dr. Maria Calderone, and his sister Lilian "Paula" Steichen and her husband, poet Carl Sandburg. More from the Beineke Library at Yale University.

Image: Edward Steichen. Edward Steichen and his Little Sister. Courtesy the Estate of Edward Steichen. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

A series of fifteen small tempera paintings of a fanciful universe inhabited with triangular creatures. The series was based on conversations Steichen had with his brother-in-law, Carl Sandburg, who had just written the Rootabaga Stories. Created over several years in Voulangis, using extreme and mean ratio (the golden mean), and rarely seen. The series was donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2011.

Image: Edward Steichen. Madame X and Johnny Marine, Oochens (series) c. 1922. National Gallery of Art © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The Steichen Collection at the MNHA pays tribute not only to Steichen’s prolific career as a photographer, but also to his work as a curator, with special attention given to the two groundbreaking exhibitions The Family of Man and The Bitter Years. More about the Steichen Collection.

Edward Steichen, ‘Heavy Roses’ Digital image courtesy the George Eastman Museum © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Initially exhibited in 1955, The Family of Man is comprised of over 500 photographs by 273 artists. Including photographs by artists such as Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander and Ansel Adams, the exhibition was meant as “a manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of mankind.” More about the Family of Man Exhibition.

Image: The Family of Man, Clervaux Castle, Luxembourg © CNA/Romain Girtgen

The last exhibition curated by Edward Steichen as Director of the Photography Department at MoMA, The Bitter Years presents on of the most comprehensive gathering of images of the American Great Depression by the Farm Security Administration (FSA). The Bitter Years is on permanent display in the Waassertuerm gallery, adjacent to the Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA). More information about The Bitter Years at Waassertuerm Gallery.

Image: © CNA/Romain Girtgen

Edward Steichen’s little sister Lilian Steichen would become the wife of American poet Carl Sandburg. The three would become close and devoted friends, each supporting the other in their work. There is a small collection of Steichen photographs at Connemara. It is not open to the public but may be viewed by qualified researchers with bona fide credentials and prior written approval from the CSH Director. More from the Carl Sandburg Home, National Historic Site, Flat Rock, North Carolina.

Image: Edward Steichen Mr. and Mrs. Sandburg, Elmhurst, Illinois, 1923. Digital image courtesy of the George Eastman Museum. © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Steichen's eldest daughter, Mary Steichen Calderone, was a mid-twentieth century pioneering physician and leader in public health and human sexuality She received her medical degree from the University of Rochester Medical School in 1939 and her master's degree in public health (MPH) from the Columbia University School of Public Health in 1942. She became the first woman medical director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1953, before leaving to co-found SIECUS (Sex Information and Education Council of the United States) in 1964. . More about the Mary Steichen Calderone Papers.

Image: ‘Mary Steichen Calderone,’ © The Smithonian Institution

Edward Steichen was only 21 when he first visited Paris in 1900. The following year, he met Auguste Rodin, who agreed to let him come to his studio over a twelve-month period to photograph the sculptures. He also took several portraits of the master sculptor, one of the most famous remains the profile view of Rodin opposite The Thinker with the Monument to Victor Hugo behind them.

In 1908, Rodin asked Steichen to photographs his Monument to Balzac “by moonlight”. Rodin was profoundly moved when he saw the prints: “Your photographs will make the world understand my Balzac.” The same year, Steichen held a show of Rodin drawings at the 291 Gallery in New York.

The Rodin Museum preserves the memory of their privileged relationship. The Museum keeps almost 90 prints (a majority of vintage platinotype, gum bichromate and carbon prints) and 30 letters written from 1901 to 1937 by Steichen, his wife Clara and his daughter Mary. The Museum’s archives contain valuable information related to Edward Steichen, Auguste Rodin, their artworks, careers, and their friendship.

More from the Musee Rodin, Paris.

Image: Image: Edward Steichen, Rodin – The Thinker, gum bichromate print, 1902 (Rodin museum, Ph.217) © 2019 The Estate of Edward Steichen/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Alfred Stieglitz donated many of Steichen's most famous early images to the Metropolitan Museum. More from the Met, Alfred Stieglitz Collection.

Image: Image: Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz © 2021 The Estate of Edward Steichen/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Grace M. Mayer was Edward Steichen’s devoted assistant and late curator of prints at the museum of modern art. Her papers contain extensive information about Steichen’s life and artistic practice. More from the MoMA, Grace M. Mayer Papers.

The ICP is dedicated to the history and study of photography and the process of image making through their exhibitions, education and community outreach programming, with special emphasis on the social and political implications of photography. More on the Steichen works in the ICP collections.

Image: Edward Steichen. Self-Portrait. The LIFE Magazine Collection, 2005. International Center for Photography.

An early mentor of Steichen, the partnership between Edward Steichen and Alfred Stiegliz would have profound repercussions on the field of photography. The Stieglitz Collection at ARTIC is comprised of nearly 400 works from Stiegliz’s collection, including works by Edward Steichen. More on the Alfred Stieglitz Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Image: Edward Steichen. Kitty and Alfred Stieglitz, 1905. Alfred Stieglitz Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago.