Thomas Mann (1875-1955) was a German writer, novelist and essayist. In 1901, his first novel The Buddenbrooks was a critical success. In 1929, Mann received the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1934, Thomas Mann and his wife Katia visited New York for the first time for the publication of his novel Joseph and His Brothers in the United States. While in New York, Mann sat for Steichen. The portrait was published in 1934 in the August issue of Vanity Fair.