Gelatin silver print, likely printed 1950s - early 1970s (possibly earlier), with several inscriptions to the verso, also with a hand-dedicated poem from Kate Steichen to the consignor within the framing, matted and framed.

Image size 13 5/8 x 10 5/8 in.; Sheet size 13 7/8 x 11 in.; Frame dimensions 20 1/4 x 17 1/4 in.

From the Private Art Collection of Grear Patterson, Barcelona, New York, and North Carolina

This important photograph is tied directly to Steichen's estate through an extraordinary provenance. In 1973, Neil Patterson - father of consignor, Grear Patterson - purchased Steichen's famous "Umpawaug House" in Redding, Connecticut. Elisabeth King, who looked after Steichen during the final years of his life, gifted this photograph to Neil in 1975. In 1988 after nine years of marriage, Neil and Ippy Patterson had their son Grear in Umpawaug House, and he was their first and only child together. Grear's parents gave him the photograph on his twenty-first birthday.

The poem and inscription affixed to the framing is from Kate Steichen, who was Edward Steichen's daughter, and it is dedicated to Grear. It originally accompanied a baby gift from Kate to Grear when he was born in 1988, and it now accompanies this photograph. The note reads "Grear:" [poem] "Welcome to the Family of Man! 2/4/88 / Kate Steichen."

$40,000 - 60,000