October 16, 2018 - January 6, 2019

Image: Edward Steichen, Actress Gloria Swanson, 1924. George Eastman Museum, bequest of Edward Steichen under the direction of Joanna T. Steichen. © 2018 The Estate of Edward Steichen / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

The Flagler Museum will launch its 2018 – 2019 "Season of Style" with Star Power: Edward Steichen’s Glamour Photography, an exhibition of more than 80 dramatic black and white portraits of celebrities and fashion models from the 1920s and 30s by Edward Steichen (1879-1973), one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography.

In 1923 Steichen, already a famous painter and fine art photographer, was offered the prestigious position of chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair, the influential fashion and society magazines published in New York by Condé Nast. Throughout his fifteen years at the magazines Steichen produced some of the most striking creations of twentieth-century photography, showcasing the culture of that era and its most prominent stars from the realms of literature, journalism, dance, sport, politics, theatre, and film. In addition to stunning fashion photographs from Worth and Poiret to Chanel and Schiaparelli, Steichen created bold and engaging portraits of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, George Gershwin, Walt Disney, and hundreds of other celebrities. Since the 1930s, however, few of these prints have been exhibited or published.

Organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis / New York City / Paris / Lausanne, in collaboration with the Flagler Museum, Star Power features more than 80 stunning celebrity portraits and fashion photographs in vintage prints, nearly all taken for Condé Nast magazines. Lenders to the exhibition are Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University; George Eastman Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Guided exhibition tours will be offered Wednesdays at 12:00 pm, beginning October 24. The exhibition and tours are free with Museum admission.

A lavishly illustrated companion volume, Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years, 1923 – 1937, is available in the Museum Store. This stunning work, published by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, documents the seminal period in Steichen’s career.

Exhibition Reviews:

"Edward Steichen at the Flagler: Long-gone stars still pull us in"

Gretel Sarmiento, Palm Beach ArtsPaper

"Palm Beach exhibition: How Edward Steichen invented glamour photography"

Jan Sjostrom, Palm Beach Daily News

This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.