Heavy Roses, Voulangis, France, 1914, is said to be the last photograph taken by Edward
Steichen in France before the Great War.
Steichen in France before the Great War.
'Heavy Roses' seems to capture forever the closing moments of the fin de siecle that preceded the collapse of Europe into darkness. Evocative of summers long past, I can never think of the image without imagining the colours of the petals, their margins fading to mauve, with their heavy scent. All summer long, I keep bowls of heavy roses on my table and next to my bed, I hold the colour in my mind like a fragrance.
The rich painterly quality of the image resonates with Steichen's youthful aspirations to be a painter, aspirations abandoned after the war, when he destroyed all of his paintings. Later Steichen went on to become a curator at the Museum of Modern Art for fifteen years and was responsible for many important exhibitions. He became chief photographer for Condé Nast Publications in 1923, publishing regularly in Vogue and Vanity Fair for the next fifteen years.
Returning to the scented colour that words fail to capture, I have found some images to share a little later.
The rich painterly quality of the image resonates with Steichen's youthful aspirations to be a painter, aspirations abandoned after the war, when he destroyed all of his paintings. Later Steichen went on to become a curator at the Museum of Modern Art for fifteen years and was responsible for many important exhibitions. He became chief photographer for Condé Nast Publications in 1923, publishing regularly in Vogue and Vanity Fair for the next fifteen years.
Returning to the scented colour that words fail to capture, I have found some images to share a little later.
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