The Flatiron, plate 25, in the book Steichen

Label

With The Flatiron, Edward Steichen captures a more ominous side of urbanity. His photo of the Flatiron Building is imposing, architecturally looming, even, perhaps, a bit unsettling with its green-blue undertones. In addition, figures are reduced to shadow and silhouette, emphasizing the idea that the city can at once be full of wonder and yet also isolating. The twilight air and bare branches add a somber atmosphere to the photograph, in contrast with the warmth and harmonious glow of the nearby rooftop painting by John Sloan, for instance.

From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 125, Chasing Modernity: Fleeting Moments and Elusive Urbanity, curated by Ellie Brown ’25, Conroy Intern

Course History

ARTH 48.02, History of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Winter 2020

Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024

Studio Art 65.01, Architecture I, Zenovia Toloudi, Spring 2024

Studio Art 66.01, Studio Art 68.01, Archiecture II/III, Zenovia Toloudi, Spring 2024

Art History 40.02, The American Century, Mary Coffey, Spring 2025

Art History 40.02, The American Century, Mary Coffey, Spring 2025

Exhibition History

Figures and Structures: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Art History 2, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 2-March 10, 1996.

Night Visions: Nocturnes in American Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, June 25-October 18, 2015.

Picturing New York: Images of the City, 1890-1955, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 31-June 21, 1992.

Signs of Modern Life: Photographs from the Collections of Jane and Raphael Bernstein and Dartmouth College, Harrington Gallery Teaching Exhibition, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 13-October 25, 1998.

Publication History

Barbara MacAdam, "Picturing New York: Images of the City,1890-1955", Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1992, no.61.

Joachim Homann, Night Vision: Nocturnes in American Art, 1860-1960, Munich, London, New York: Delmonico Books / Prestel, 2016, 176 pp., ill. p. 79.

Published References

Daniel, Malcolm. "Edward J. Steichen (1879–1973): The Photo-Secession Years". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nov. 2010) http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/stei/hd_stei.htm Daniel, Malcolm. Stieglitz Steichen Strand. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011). Hartmann, Celia. “The Edward Steichen Archive in The Museum of Modern Art Archives.” MoMA The Museum of Modern Art. 2011. < https://www.moma.org/learn/resources/archives/EAD/steichenb.html#series2> Longwell, Dennis. Steichen: The Master Prints, 1895-1917: The Symbolist Period. (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1978). Smith, Joel. Edward Steichen: The Early Years. (New York: Princeton University Press in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999). “Steichen [The Steichen Book].” Irving Zucker Art Books. http://www.zuckerartbooks.com/cgi-bin/zab/715.html Steichen: Selected Texts and Bibliography. Edited by Ronald J. Gedrim. (New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1996).

Provenance

Frederick P. Hier, Jr. (1889-1957); to his son, Frederick L. Hier (1922-1999), Cornish Flats, New Hampshire; given to present collection, 1973..

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