Edward Steichen

mounted, annotated in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse, overmatted, signed by the photographer in pencil on the overmat, matted, framed, 1925

The Witkin Gallery, New York

Acquired by Barbara K. Adelson, Detroit, from the above, 1971

Sotheby's New York, 31 October and 1 and 2 November 1989, Sale 5921, Lot 135

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above

Detroit Institute of Arts, Photographs from the Permanent and Private Collections, July - August 1971

Detroit Institute of Arts, The Camera and Eye: Modern Photography 1925 to the Present, 1975

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 14 (this print)

Other prints of this image:

Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography (New York, 1963), pl. 180

Sarah Greenough, Joel Snyder, David Travis, and Colin Westerbeck, On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography (National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Art Institute of Chicago, 1989, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 224 (full negative)

This rich and warm-toned print is on paper with a matte surface and is in good condition. There is faint age-appropriate silvering in the dark areas. A small area of emulsion loss is visible on the subject's right shoulder. As described, the print is overmatted, and some stray glue from this is visible along the left edge of the print. The overmat is age-darkened and lightly soiled.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The portrait of Charlie Chaplin offered here, one of Steichen's signature images from the 1920s, shows the English actor at the peak of his career.  When the photograph was published in the October 1926 issue of Vanity Fair, Chaplin's now-classic movie, The Gold Rush, had been released the year before, capping a brilliant career of 77 films.  A gifted performer and omni-talented filmmaker, Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, scored, and starred in most of his films.  His primary screen persona, The Tramp, became a screen icon even in Chaplin's own day.  In Steichen's photograph, Chaplin has left his bedraggled and hapless screen counterpart behind, and radiates the confidence of a man at the top of his field. 

Steichen, too, was at the top of his field when he made this photograph, having become one of the most successful commercial photographers of all time. He had been hired by Condé Nast in 1923 to update and revitalize the look of his magazines, replacing the publisher's former photographer, Baron Adolf de Meyer.  Steichen's boundless energy and creativity did indeed change the look of Nast's publications, for which he produced some of the most memorable fashion studies and celebrity portraits of the 1920s and 1930s. 

With this photograph, Steichen solved the two main challenges that he believed portrait photography posed--how to conquer light and how to capture the moment when a sitter's true character is revealed.  The latter usually proved especially daunting, given that his first encounters with his subjects were often the moment they arrived to be photographed. This was true of the sitting with Chaplin, who had scheduled only twenty minutes for the session. Steichen recalled in A Life in Photography,

'When we got Chaplin in the studio and started to arrange the lights, he froze.  I dismissed my assistants and tried to work alone with him, but nothing happened.  Finally Chaplin said, "You know, I can't just sit still.  I have to be doing something.  Then I'm all right."

'So I stopped working and got out a portfolio of my photographs. . . Then I started to talk to him about The Gold Rush, the film he had just released, he loosened up and became enthusiastic in turn. . . in a few minutes I had a half-dozen portraits of Chaplin relaxed and himself, the image of a dancing faun' (unpaginated, Chapter 8).

At the time of this writing, only one other early print of this image has been located: a print offered in these rooms on 7 April 1995 (Sale 7112, Lot 21).