Luxembourg Steichen pictures in Riga

A Luxembourg museum has sent 86 prints by Luxembourg-born photographer Edward Steichen to a museum in Riga, Latvia for an exhibition.

The prints will be displayed at Riga's National Museum of Art (Old Riga, Torņa Street 1) for an exhibition entitled "Edward Steichen. Photography" to conclude the Latvian Presidency of the European Union Council.

They have been loaned from the collection of the Luxembourg National Museum of History and Art and serve as a symbolic bridge as Luxembourg is the next presiding state of the European Union Council.

Edward Steichen, (1879–1973) was born in Luxembourg and emigrated to America. A painter, photographer, designer, curator, museum worker and professional gardener, Steichen believed that art should be a citizen of the world.

The biggest work of his life and main achievement as curator and director of Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art, was the ambitious project "The Family of Man” (1955). Composed of works from around the world, today is on display in Clervaux, Luxembourg.

As part of the Riga exhibition, 86 original prints by Edward Steichen will be on display at the Arsenāls Exhibition Hall of the Latvian National Museum of Art.

They represent the artist's early period, whose highlight was his return to Europe in 1900 and life in Paris, as well as his mature period, working in New York at Condé Nast Publications, where he created celebrity portraits and fashion photography for magazines such as Vanity Fair and Vogue.

Visitors will see iconic portraits of actors Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Myrna Loy, historically significant politicians Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt and many other famous people.

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