''The Flatiron'' is a coloured photograph made by American photographer

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

in 1904. Its one of the best known photographs of his

pictorialist Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

phase. The photograph was part of the "International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography", held in the Albright Art Gallery, in Buffalo, in 1910.The Flatiron, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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History and description

The

Flatiron building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...

had been inaugurated in 1902 and it would become one of the most iconic buildings of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. It soon attracted the attention of photographers like

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

and

, who were trying to create photographs in the

style, in a similar way to painting. Steichen himself had training as a painter and with his technique of using gum bichromate over platinum print was able to add colour to this photograph of the

Flatiron Flatiron or flat iron may refer to various things, often in the shape of a wedge: Objects *Clothes iron *Hair iron Places *Flatiron Building, New York City, at the intersection of 5th & Broadway **Flatiron District, New York City, named after ...

, taken at twilight, in Winter. He took the picture from the west side of Madison Square Park. He made three prints, respectively in blue, tan and orange-like colors. The final result seems inspired by the Japanese woodcuts, very popular at the time, and by American painter

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

''Nocturnes'' paintings, while his subject is very distinctively American. The

Middlebury College Museum of Art Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all 5 ...

website states: "Printed using colored inks, the photograph captures the interplay between the natural tree branches, the rainy streets, and the newly built Flatiron Building, one of the tallest buildings in New York at the time.(...) The building was a symbol of American technological progress; as Steichen’s colleague Alfred Steiglitz declared, “The Flat Iron is to the United States what the Parthenon was to Greece.”"Edward Steichen, The Flatiron—Evening from Camera Work XIV, 1904, published 1906, Land and Lens, Middlebury College Museum of Art
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Art market

A print of this photograph, auctioned from the Paul G. Allen Collection, became the second most expensive ever at the art market on 8 November 2022, when it sold by $11,840,000, at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

, well above the estimate of $2,000,000-3,000,000.

Public collections

There are prints of this photograph in several public collections, including the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, in

, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, in

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, in

, the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood, Los Angeles, Brentwood neighborhood ...

, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

, the

, in Middlebury, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and the

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...

, in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

.Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reína Sofía
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flatiron, The 1900s photographs Photographs by Edward Steichen Color photographs Photographs in the collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Photographs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Photographs of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Photographs in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Photographs of the J. Paul Getty Museum Photographs of the Victoria and Albert Museum

History and description

Art market

Public collections

See also

References