Joanna T. Steichen (February 22, 1933 – July 24, 2010), née Joanna E. Taub, was an American author, psychotherapist, and aide to her husband, photographer

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...

Biography

Joanna E. Taub was born to a dental surgeon on February 22, 1933, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. She grew up in Albany, New York then attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, where she majored in theater and graduated in 1954. She met Edward Steichen in 1959 when she was 26 and he was 80. They married the following year. She worked with him to mount exhibits and write his autobiography and ultimately arranged the donation of his collection to the

George Eastman Museum The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...

. After he died in 1973, she went back to school, earning a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of Social Work and then practicing as a psychotherapist. In 1983, she published a non-fiction book called ''Marrying Up: An American Dream and Reality'' and in 2000, a survey of Edward Steichen’s work called ''Steichen’s Legacy: Photographs: 1895-1973'', in conjunction with a retrospective at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

. ''Steichen’s Legacy'' presented 315 of his photographs grouped thematically, with each group prefaced by a personal essay. As of 1986, she lived on West 29th Street in Manhattan. She died by drowning on July 24, 2010, at her summer home in

Montauk, New York Montauk ( ) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in East Hampton, New York, East Hampton and Suffolk County, New York, on the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2020 Un ...

, after suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steichen, Joanna 1933 births 2010 deaths Deaths by drowning American women writers American psychotherapists Smith College alumni People with Parkinson's disease Writers from Albany, New York Writers from Brooklyn Columbia University School of Social Work alumni