There are two ways of approaching "Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years 1923–1937," the new exhibition opening at the AGO today: as a photography show displaying the work of a recognized hero in the field and as a fascinating bit of cultural anthropology. What we have in the first case is a master class in some of the foundational elements of photography, most especially composition and light. What we have in the second is a glimpse into the world that Steichen photographed and the cultural sensibilities that were prominent at the time.

Elsewhere in the Ist-a-Verse