The Family of Man Revisited
Photography in a Global Age
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Family of Man Revisited
Photography in a Global Age
About this book
The Family of Man is the most widely seen exhibition in the history of photography. The book of the exhibition, still in print, is also the most commercially successful photobook ever published. First shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955, the exhibition travelled throughout the United States and to forty-six countries, and was seen by over nine million people. Edward Steichen conceived, curated and designed the exhibition. He explained its subject as `the everydayness of life' and `the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world'. The exhibition was a statement against war and the conflicts and divisions that threatened a common future for humanity after 1945. The popular international response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Many critics, however, have dismissed the exhibition as a form of sentimental humanism unable to address the challenges of history, politics and cultural difference.This book revises the critical debate about The Family of Man, challenging in particular the legacy of Roland Barthes's influential account of the exhibition. The expert contributors explore new contexts for understanding Steichen's work and they undertake radically new analyses of the formal dynamics of the exhibition. Also presented are documents about the exhibition never before available in English. Commentaries by critical theorist Max Horkheimer and novelist Wolfgang Koeppen, letters from photographer August Sander, and a poetic sequence on the images by Polish poet Witold Wirpsza enable and encourage new critical reflections. A detailed survey of audience responses in Munich from 1955 allows a rare glimpse of what visitors thought about the exhibition. Today, when armed conflict, environmental catastrophe and economic inequality continue to threaten our future, it seems timely to revisit The Family of Man.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction: The Family of Man Revisited
- 1 Reassessing Roland Barthes’s Myth of The Family of Man
- 2 ‘The Family of Man – All of Us’ (1958) and ‘Photography’ (1960)
- 3 Max Horkheimer and The Family of Man
- 4 ‘The Camera Will Not Miss Anything’ (1955): The Family of Man at the Städtische Galerie
- 5 Two Letters to Edward Steichen
- 6 The Family of Man in Munich: Visitors’ Reactions
- 7 The Family of Man: Looking at the Photographs Now and Remembering a Visit in the 1950s
- 8 Picture and Image: Another Look at The Family of Man
- 9 Structures of Rhyme, Forms of Participation: The Family of Man as Exhibition
- 10 A Humanism of Relation: Aesthetics and Philosophy of Place in The Family of Man
- 11 Re-exhibiting The Family of Man: Luxembourg 2013
- 12 Et in Arcadia Ego: The Family of Man as Cold War Pastoral
- 13 The Family of Man and Post-war Debates about American Art
- 14 Carl Sandburg’s Journey to The Family of Man
- 15 Commentaries on Photographs: The Family of Man (1962)
- Bibliography
- Notes on Contributors
- Index