French Pursuit or Combat Plane Above Clouds

Edward Steichen was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century—a pioneering champion of art photography and an innovator in fashion and commercial photography. Lesser known, however, is his important role in World War I, as chief of the Photographic Section of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) from 1917 to 1919. Steichen, who had come to regard France as a second homeland after living there from 1906 to 1914, was quick to enlist once the United Statesa officially entered the war in 1917. Though at 38 he was eight years older than the Signal Corps age limit, his experience as a photographer made him a valuable recruit, and he entered active duty in July 1917 as a first lieutenant. World War I, sometimes called the first “modern” war, was marked by groundbreaking advances in technology, including photography. Steichen intended to be “a photographic reporter, as Mathew Brady had been in the Civil War,” but he quickly abandoned this romantic notion to help implement one of the newest weapons—aerial photography. Taking images from airplanes made it possible not only to observe a wide swath of the battlefield but also to track daily changes on the front lines. Steichen was assigned to the newly formed Photographic Section, led by Major James Barnes, and together they oversaw the training and outfitting of aerial-photography and surveillance units that proved their usefulness over the course of the war. Steichen also worked to standardize cameras, materials, and formats across the various national armies in order to simplify cooperation among the Allied forces. This album was assembled by Steichen in 1919 from prints he kept after his military discharge. Many such pictures entered public and private collections; in some cases, they were assembled into albums that chronicled aerial photography during the war. Steichen’s pride in his work for the AEF is made clear in this unique compilation, which he personally captioned and dedicated to a member of a prominent family of art patrons. To learn more about this album, visit http://archive.artic.edu/steichen/index.html.