Edward Steichen was born in Luxemburg in 1879 and, in 1881, he moved to the United States together with his family. Here Steichen divided his time between photography and painting, often combining one with the other. In 1902 he began a long collaboration with Alfred Stieglitz, together with whom he published the magazine “Camera Work”. From 1906 to 1914 he moved to France and, in 1911, he began working as a fashion photographer. 
After the First World War, during which he was head of the photography division of the American Expedition Forces, he returned to more direct and immediate photography, especially of still life. In this period Steichen continued to dedicate himself to portraits and fashion photography and from 1923 to 1938 he collaborated with “Vanity Fair” and “Vogue”. Amongst the many images he produced during these years, one of the most memorable was of Greta Garbo, which became a sort of universal icon of the actress.
In 1942, during the Second World War, he became director of the Naval Photographic Institute for the U.S. Navy. His job was to photograph the naval aspects of the war. From 1947 to 1962, Steichen was the director of MoMA’s Department of Photography in New York. In 1955 he created The Family of Man, an important exhibition of over 500 photographs that documented life, love and death in 68 countries in the world. The poet Carl Sandburg, Steichen’s brother-in-law, wrote the introduction to the catalogue, which sold millions of copies worldwide.