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Artist(s): Edward Steichen (Luxembourg, Mar 27, 1879 - Mar 25, 1973, West Redding, CT) Title: VIII. The Flatiron - Evening. from Camera Work Number XIV, MDCCCCVI Date: c. 1905 Dimensions: 8 1/4 in. x 6 1/4 in. (20.96 cm x 15.88 cm) Medium: Photogravure on paper Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Gift of Georgia O'Keeffe and Elizabeth Davidson, 1953.31.8 Location: On view in the Museum Learning Center

Related Parent:

• Camera Work Number XIV, MDCCCCVI

Related Siblings:

• I. George Frederick Watts.
• The Little Galleries of The Photo-Secession.
• The Little Galleries of The Photo-Secession.
• The Little Galleries of The Photo-Secession.
• IX. Mother and Child - Sunlight.
• X. Cover Design.
• II. William M. Chase.
• III. Lilac Buds: Mrs. S.
• IV. Moonlight: The Pond.
• V. The Little Round Mirror.
• VI. The Little Model.
• VII. The Brass Bowl.
• The Little Galleries of The Photo-Secession.

This object is a member of the following groups (click any group name to view all objects in that group):

Exhibitions: “What Next?” Camera Work and 291 Magazine

Object Information

One of the first skyscrapers to be built uptown in 1902, the Fuller Building, named for the construction company who built it, sits on a triangular shaped lot between the intersections of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 23rd Street. Nicknamed the “Flatiron Building” because its shape resembles a clothes iron, Chicago architect Daniel Burnham clad its innovative steel structure in antique design elements. One of the most distinguished buildings in New York City, the Flatiron is a monument to the skill of laborers, engineers, and architects, a symbol of beauty and creativity, and a recognizable icon of the Manhattan skyline.

The Flatiron has attracted countless tourists, artists, authors, and photographers, such as Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz, both advocates of the early twentieth-century Photo-Secession movement. Published in the journal Camera Work, Steichen’s photogravure, VIII. The Flatiron – Evening., portrays the mystical building enveloped in a windswept rain. Essays and poems were also printed in Camera Work; poet Sadakichi Hartmann wrote about the Flatiron Building in 1903:

Iron structure of time

Rich, in showing no pretence

Fair, in frugalness sublime

Emblem staunch of common sense

Well may you smile over Gotham’s vast domain,

As dawn greets your pillars with roseate flame,

For future ages will proclaim

Your beauty

Boldly, without shame.

Exhibition History

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

In Focus: 75 Years of Collecting American Photography, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/28/2006 - 7/31/2006
People, Places, Things: Symbols of American Culture, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/4/2012 - 1/13/2013
“What Next?”: Camera Work and 291 Magazine, Addison Gallery of American Art, 2/26/2022 - 7/31/2022

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