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

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.

No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.

Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete

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.

Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.

We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.

Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.

Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.

Yes, you can access The Family of Man Revisited by Gerd Hurm, Anke Reitz, Shamoon Zamir, Gerd Hurm,Anke Reitz,Shamoon Zamir in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & 20th Century History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Year

Print ISBN

eBook ISBN

Topic

Subtopic

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

About this book

Frequently asked questions

Information

Table of contents