The Family of Man

The Family of Man was an ambitiousphotography exhibition curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the Museum of Modern Art's (MOMA) Department of Photography. It was first shown in 1955 from January 24 to May 8 at the New York MOMA, then toured the world for eight years, making stops in thirty-seven countries on six continents as part of the Museum's International Program. More than 9 million people viewed the exhibit.

According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the "culmination of his career."

The physical collection is archived and displayed at Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg (Edward Steichen's home country; he was born there in 1879 in Bivange). It was first presented there in 1994 after restoration of the prints.

In 2003 the Family of Man photographic collection was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in recognition of its historical value.

The photographs included in the exhibition focus on the commonalities that bind people and cultures around the world and the exhibition itself served as an expression of humanism in the decade following World War II. The United States Information Agency toured the photographs throughout the world in five different versions for seven years, under the auspices of the The Museum of Modern Art International Program.

The collection's overtones of peace and human brotherhood symbolized a lifting of the overhanging danger of an atomic war for Soviet citizens. This meaning seemed to be grasped especially by Russian students and intellectuals.

Carl Sandburg, Steichen's brother-in-law, 1951 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, wrote an accompanying poetic commentary displayed as text panels throughout the exhibition.

The physical installation and layout of the Family of Man exhibition aimed to enable the visitor to read this as a photo-essay about human development and cycles of life. Architect Paul Rudolph designed a series of temporary walls among the existing structural columns guiding visitors past the images, the effect of which he described as "telling a story", encouraging them to pause at those which attracted their attention. However, open spaces within the layout required viewers to make their own decisions about their passage through the exhibition, and to gather to discuss it.

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Wikipedia