Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949) was a Flemish writer, poet, and playwright who wrote in French. In 1911, Maeterlinck won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Steichen portrayed Maeterlinck sitting behind his desk, pen in hand, facing the camera directly. Maeterlinck and Steichen became friends and were linked in their private and professional lives. Maeterlinck contributed the essay Je crois, defending photography as an art form and praising Steichen’s work, to the first issue of Camera Work in 1903.