Ode to Time - Photo Restoration

Photographer Edward Steichen (1879-1973), whose work "The Pond—Moonlight" was sold at an auction for $2,900,000, was born in Luxembourg. He was 18 months old when his parents immigrated to the United States and settled in the city of Hancock, Michigan, where the father of the future photographer got a job in a copper mine. When studying at school, Edward became interested in drawing and painting, and after receiving a high school diploma, he had worked for several years in a lithographic company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, pursuing a career from an apprentice to a designer.

In 1895, Edward Steichen "just out of curiosity" bought a camera. His first photo experiments could had hardly been called successful, later he recalled with a smile that from his first film only one single frame was obtained, and even then it was far from a masterpiece. His father tried to persuade him to give up this "futile undertaking", but fortunately for us, the young man remained deaf to his parents' reasoning.

In 1890s, Steichen started to visit library, where he learned art history on his own. He discovered pictorialism, realized that the purpose of photography goes far beyond simply copying reality. The style of the early Steichen began to take shape - blurry silhouettes of people, foggy pictures of urban and nature landscapes, obscure, weightless fragments.

In 2006, one of his early works, "The Pond—Moonlight", was sold at auction for $2,900,000.

Edward Steichen is known not only as a recognized master, but also as an organizer of major international exhibitions. The most significant of these was "The Family of Man", which took place in New York in 1955. Steichen inquired the photo organizations in different countries to send him photographs showing human life in its most diverse manifestations. He received more than two million photos from all over the world! Steichen and his assistants first selected 4000, and subsequently formed the final exposure of 503 photos. In total, the exhibition featured the work of 273 photographers from 68 countries. Among the exhibits were the works of famous as well as unknown authors. The exposition "The Family of Man" took place in 40 countries, and was visited by about ten million people.