When I first became interested in photography, I thought it was the whole cheese. My idea was to have it recognized as one of the fine arts. Today I don't give a hoot in hell about that. The mission of photography is to explain man to man and each man to himself.

They had two daughters Katherine and Mary. In 1923 Steichen married Dana Desboro Glover. In 1894 at the age of fifteen Steichen began a four-year lithography apprenticeship with the American Fine Art Company of Milwaukee.

Edward Jean Steichen (March 27 1879 – March 25 1973) was an American photographer painter and art gallery and museum curator. During these years Steichen was regarded as the best known and highest paid photographer in the world. Steichen directed the war documentary The Fighting Lady which won the 1945 Academy Award for Best Documentary.