[Edward Steichen]

During World War I, aerial photography was a great contribution to the war effort. Aerial reconnaissance photographs were used to gain intelligence about enemy positions and movements, and to map out the terrain for military planning purposes.

Pioneering Photo-Secessionist and famed art photographer, Edward Steichen, played a significant role in the development of aerial photography during World War I. In August of 1917, Steichen was appointed as the chief of the Photographic Section of the American Expeditionary Forces, where he was responsible for organizing and directing a team of photographers to document the war effort. Under Steichen's leadership, the Photographic Section of the Signal Corps developed new techniques for aerial photography, including a rigorous photographic training school, the use of specialized cameras and improved film processing methods, which allowed for clearer and more detailed images to be captured from the air. Steichen's work helped to establish aerial photography as an important tool for military reconnaissance and mapping.

The offered archive presents photographs and manuscripts outlining the training and development of the aerial photography units. The archive comprises 12 photographs of the U.S.A. School of Aerial Photography in Rochester, NY; 26 pages of documents describing lessons, examinations, and changes to the program, including a 10-step outline of improvement titled “Development of Aerial Photography” written by Steichen and dated July 12th, 1918. Also included is a photographically printed facsimile of a 5-week course timetable, presumably designed by Steichen himself (based on his distinct modernist penmanship); and a 9-lesson program for photographic training at the Washington Barracks from 1923.

Steichen’s involvement in the development of creating realist, informational photographs for reconnaissance purposes catapulted his own photographic practice into a new realm. Prior to the war, he was known as a master of artistic, soft-focus photographs but his role in WWI was the turning point. He later reflected: “The wartime problem of making sharp, clear pictures from a vibrating, speeding airplane ten to twenty thousand feet in the air had brought me a new kind of technical interest in photography… Now I wanted to know all that could be expected from photography.” Steichen began to appreciate The Photograph's ability to convey and store information which was a catalyst for his continued success as an internationally celebrated photographer for Condé Nast and later director of photography at The Museum of Modern Art.