The Family of Man was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) department of photography. According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the "culmination of his career". The title was taken from a line in a Carl Sandburg poem.
The Family of Man was exhibited in 1955 from January 24 to May 8 at the New York MoMA, then toured the world for eight years to record-breaking audience numbers. Commenting on its appeal, Steichen said, "The people in the audience looked at the pictures, and the people in the pictures looked back at them. They recognized each other." The physical collection is archived and displayed at Clervaux Castle in Edward Steichen's home country of Luxembourg, where he was born in 1879 in Bivange. It was first exhibited 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.
Tours
United States 1955, 24 January – 8 May: Museum of Modern Art 1955, 22 June – 4 September: Minneapolis Institute of Art 1955, 7 October – 4 December: Dallas Museum of Art 1956, 24 January – 4 March: Cleveland Museum of Art 1956, 29 April – 20 May: Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute 1956, 25 May – 15 July: Baltimore Museum of Art 1956, 4–25 June: Saint Louis Art Museum 1956, July: Corning Museum of Glass 1956, 9–30 July: George Eastman Museum 1956, 3–30 October: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
World tour The recently formed United States Information Agency was instrumental in touring the The Family of Man throughout the world.
It toured in five different versions for seven years, under the auspices of the Museum of Modern Art International Program making stops in thirty-seven countries on six continents. More than 10 million people viewed the exhibit, which is in excess of the largest audience for any other photographic exhibition. The photographs in the exhibition focused on the commonalities that bind people and cultures around the world, the exhibition serving as an expression of humanism in the decade following World War II.
Notably, it was not shown in Franco's Spain, in Vietnam, nor in China.
First European tour Copy 1 (503 photo panels, 50 text panels) was organized by Edward Steichen. Duplication, with minor changes, of the exhibition presented at MoMA, January 24May 8, 1955 and subsequently circulated in the United States (1956–57). Commissioned by the USIA for circulation in Europe (circulated 1955–1962. Dispersed 1962). It was shown in: GermanyBerlin, Hochschule fur Bildende Kunst, Sept 17Oct 9, 1955Munich, Municipal Lenbach Gallery, Nov 19Dec 18, 1955Hamburg Hanover Frankfurt, Haus des Deutschen Kunsthandwerks, Oct 25Nov 30, 1958FranceParis, Musee National d'Art Moderne, Jan 20Feb 26, 1956NetherlandsAmsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, March 23April 29, 1956Rotterdam, Floriade, May–Aug 1960BelgiumBrussels, Palais de Beaux Arts, May 23July 1, 1956EnglandLondon, Royal Festival Hall, Aug 1–30, 1956ItalyRome, Palazzo VeneziaMilan, Villa CommunaleYugoslaviaBelgrade, Kalamegdan Pavilion, Jan 25Feb 22, 1957AustriaVienna, Kunstlerhaus, March 30April 28, 1957DenmarkAarhusAalborgOdenseGreeceAthensFinlandHelsinki Taidehall
Central America, India, Africa, Middle East Copy 2, a duplicate of Copy 1 was commissioned by the USIA, circulated 1955–1963 and dispersed in 1963. It was shown in: GuatemalaGuatemala City, Palacio de Protocolo, Aug 24Sept 18, 1955MexicoMexico City, La Fragua- Conference of Central American States, Oct 21Nov 20, 1955IndiaBombay, Jehangir Art Gallery, June 18July 15, 1956, ext. July 20Agra, University of Agra Library, Aug 31Sept 19, 1956New Delhi, Industries Fair Grounds-IX Session of General Conference of UNESCO, Nov–Dec 5, 1956Ahmedabad, Cultural Center, Jan 11Feb 1, 1957Calcutta, Ranji Stadium, March–April, 1957Madras, Madras University, June 10July 21, 1957Trivandurum, Sept 1–22, 1957South KoreaSeoulLimb Eungsik (1912–2001) organised a showing of Steichen's exhibition in Seoul in 1957 Southern RhodesiaSalisbury, Rhodes National Gallery, March–April, 1958Union of South AfricaJohannesburg, Gov't Pavilion-Rand Spring Show, Aug 30Sept 13, 1958Cape Town Durban, Nov 11–25, 1958Pretoria, Jan 1959 Windhoek Port Elizabeth UitenbogeKenyaNairobi, Oct 1959United Arab RepublicCairo, Dec 1960Alexandria, Nov 1960DamascusAfghanistanKabulIranTehran
Second European tour Copy 3, a duplicate of Copy 1 commissioned by the USIA. Circulated 1957–1965 and at Steichen's request, this version of the exhibition was presented to the Government of Luxembourg for permanent display at Common Market Headquarters, Luxembourg, 1965. Previously, it was shown in: NorwayOslo, Museum of Applied Arts, Jan 15Feb 10, 1957SwedenStockholm, Lilijevalchs Konsthall, March 22April 7, 1957Gothenburg, Svenska Massan/Gothenborg Fair, June 8–23, 1957Halsingborg, Halsinborg Exposition, Jul 12Aug 18, 1957IcelandReykjavík, Sept–Oct, 1957DenmarkCopenhagen, Charlottenborg Gallery, Nov 22Dec 26, 1957SwitzerlandZürich, Museum of Design, Jan 25 – March 2, 1958Basel, Kunsthalle, March 8 – April 16, 1958Geneva, Musee Rath, April 16 – May 1958St. Gallen, Aug–Sep, 1958 Bern, Jun–Aug, 1958YugoslaviaZagreb, Oct–Nov, 1958ItalyMilan, Villa Communale, Jan–Feb, 1959TurinFlorencePolandWarsaw, National Theatre, Sept 18 – Oct 21, 1959Wrocław, Museum of Slask, Nov 8 – Dec 27, 1959Wałbrzych, Jan 1 – Feb 7, 1960Jelenia Góra, Feb 14–28, 1960Kraków, March 1–15, 1960Poznań, April 9 – May 1, 1960Dąbrowa Górnicza, May 10–31, 1960BelgiumGhentLuxembourgMusee de l'Etat, July 23, 1966
South America, Australia and South-East Asia Copy 4, a duplicate of Copy 1. Commissioned by the U.S.I.A. Circulated 1957–62. Dispersed 1962. It was shown in: CubaHavana, Museo Nacional Palacio de Belas Artes, March 6 – April, 1957VenezuelaCaracas, University of Caracas, July 5–30, 1957ColombiaBogotá, Oct–Dec, 1957ChileSantiago, University of Chile, Jan–Feb, 1958UruguayMontevideo, April 12–27, 1958AustraliaMelbourne, Preston Motors Show Room, opened February 23, 1959Sydney, David Jones department store, opened April 6, 1959Brisbane, John Hicks Showrooms, May 18 – June 13, 1959Adelaide, Myer Emporium, June 29 – July 31, 1959LaosBientani, That Luang National shrine – That Luang FestivalIndonesiaJakarta
Middle East A revised version of the original shown at MoMA 1955. Circulated in the United States, 1957–59, then acquired by the USIA for circulation abroad (1957–58; dispersed 1958), and shown in Tel Aviv, Israel and Beirut, Lebanon
Japan In 1956, The Family of Man was exhibited at Nihonbashi Takashimaya in Japan (organised with Nikkei Inc.). The version sent to Japan did not include the large black-and-white photograph of a mushroom cloud that appeared in other travelling versions of the exhibition. Steichen explained the removal by saying he consistently avoided specific historical events, believing they distorted the exhibition's universal message unless presented in full context. Takenaka further specifies that in Tokyo that image was replaced by a mural-sized photograph of Nagasaki taken in Nagasaki on 10 August 1945 by Yōsuke Yamahata who challenged Steichen's reasoning, asking whether the atomic bombing could really be dismissed as merely a "specific event." His was accompanied by four photographs of survivors (including the mother and child, the boy carrying his injured brother, the father with his baby, and the waiting girl), showing the human devastation caused by the bomb rather than the explosion itself. Steichen and the Japanese executive committee agreed to add 60 Japanese photographs, including the five Yamahata photographs of the Nagasaki bombing, one at mural size, to make the Japanese presentation distinctive.
O'Brian argues that Steichen's broader curatorial philosophy rejected historically specific, or news, images of suffering, and that the exhibition's universal humanism ultimately aligned with post-war American policies that downplayed the human consequences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Miller, then photographing in the Pacific, visited Hiroshima in October 1945 and photographed survivors, but none was included in The Family of Man, despite thirteen of his pictures of other subjects being selected. Marine sergeant Joe O’Donnell's photographs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also excluded.
O'Brian also notes that when Emperor Hirohito visited the Tokyo exhibition, Yamahata's photographs were first curtained off and then removed entirely, events which Takenaka dates; the exhibition opened on 21 March 1956; two days later, during Emperor Shōwa's visit, the wall containing the Nagasaki photographs was hidden behind a white curtain. Shortly afterwards, all but one of the Nagasaki photographs (the boy holding a rice ball) were removed from the exhibition. On 23 April 1956, nine prominent Japanese photographers, editors and critics, including Yōnosuke Natori, Tsutomu Watanabe and Koen Shigemori, issued a joint protest, arguing that removing the photographs without explanation threatened freedom of expression and the public's right to see them. Newspapers protested the action and published photographs of the original display before removal.
Soviet Union Copy 5: Following a bilateral agreement between the US and USSR, in 1959 the American National Exhibition was to be held in Moscow and the Soviets were to have had the use of New York City's Coliseum. This Moscow trade fair at Sokolniki Park was the scene of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and United States Vice President Richard Nixon's 'Kitchen Debate' over the relative merits of communism and capitalism.
The Family of Man was a late inclusion that had not been originally envisaged in MoMA's itinerary. With a grant to the Museum of $15,000 (less than half of what it requested) and funding from the plastics industry for the radical pre-fabricated translucent pavilion design to house it, a fifth copy of the show was salvaged from what was left of the Beirut and Scandinavia showings, augmented with new prints.
In Moscow, in the context of a trade show 'supermarket' meant to demonstrate lavish consumerism, and a multimedia display assembled by Charles Eames, the collection's overtones of peace and human brotherhood symbolized a lifting of the imminent threat of an atomic war for Soviet citizens in the midst of the Cold War. This meaning seemed to be grasped especially by Soviet students and intellectuals. Recognising the importance of the Moscow exhibition as "the high spot of the project", Steichen attended its opening and made copious photographs of the event.
Clervaux Castle, Luxembourg The original prints from Copy 3 exhibited in the permanent collection at Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg have been restored twice, once in the 1990s and more comprehensively during a closure of the museum in the years 2010–2013.The Family of Man on the Steichen Collection website of Clervaux Castle.
An innovative exhibit The physical installation and layout of the Family of Man exhibition were designed to enable the visitor to view it as if it were a photo-essay about human development and cycles of life, that affirmed a common human identity and destiny against the contemporary Cold War threats of nuclear war.
Architect Paul Rudolph designed a series of temporary walls set amongst the existing structural columns, which guided visitors past the images, which he described as "telling a story", encouraging them to pause at those that attracted their attention. His layout and display features were adapted as much as possible to the international venues, which varied considerably from the original space at MoMA.