Is photography art? The young Edward Steichen thought so. As a prominent member of the Photo-Secession movement, he dedicated his early career to promoting the idea. The group’s pictorialist approach took painting as its artistic ideal, and justified photography’s aesthetic status in reference to it. For Steichen, this paradigm sustained a creative identity, but, as this retrospective at the Jeu de Paume demonstrates, prevented him from exploring the medium's separate possibilities.

An early self-portrait shows a shadowy figure emerging from the frame’s edge. Just two years later, in 1902, Steichen self-consciously styles himself as an artist, palette in hand, confidently centre stage. Such privileging of his painterly persona implies an insecurity regarding his artistic standing. It’s striking how often he snapped painters and sculptors, always emphasizing their creativity and dignity: In a shot of Rodin entitled Le Penseur (1902) sculptor and sculpture bend face to face in identical attitudes of profound reflection.

It wasn’t until Steichen relinquished the quest to make art that he could assert his own vision. His term as a military photographer during the First World War forced him to engage with the discipline’s technical aspects. It prompted a loss of faith in art itself: photography should aspire to be more than “high grade wallpaper”, he declared, and serve society. His interpretation of what was socially useful proved rather loose, incorporating fashion editorials, celebrity portraits, and advertising campaigns. Perhaps more accurately Steichen had a crisis of confidence – in an image from around 1920 he sits outlined against a window that looks onto a brick wall, face shadowed, no professional paraphernalia in sight.

In shedding his artistic self-image, Steichen was freed from the status anxiety that marred his earlier photographs. Vogue offered to publish him anonymously, but he insisted on signing his work: Disregarding criticism from his contemporaries, he maintained that the only imperative was to get the best shot. This pragmatism resulted in remarkable photographs, notably a project creating abstract fabric patterns out of ordinary items like matches or buttons.

Shifting his focus from abstract mood to concrete detail, Steichen left behind the formal, staged quality of the 'Great Men' series and nudes. A 1928 picture of Greta Garbo catches her frowning, hair pulled back by her hands, black sleeves severely framing the white oval of her face. It’s considered the definitive portrait of the star. Was Steichen an artist? Perhaps not, but he certainly took a good photo.

Until December 30. €3-6.
Closed Monday.
“Steichen, une épopée photographique”
Jeu de Paume, 1, place de la Concorde, Paris 8. Mº Concorde. 01 47 03 12 50. www.jeudepaume.org