
Migrant Mother (1936), Dorothea Lange
The Family of Man was a
photography exhibition curated by
Edward Steichen first shown in 1955 at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York.
According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the 'culmination of his career'. The 503 photos by 273 photographers in 68 countries were selected from almost 2 million pictures submitted by famous and unknown photographers. These photos offer a striking snapshot of the human experience which lingers on birth, love, and joy, but also touches war, privation, illness and death. His intention was to prove visually the universality of human experience and photography's role in its documentation.
The exhibit was turned into a book of the same name, containing an introduction by
Carl Sandburg who was Steichen's brother-in-law. The book was reproduced in a variety of formats (most popularly a pocket-sized volume) in the 1950s, and reprinted in large format for its 40th anniversary. It has sold more than 4 million copies.
The exhibition later travelled in several versions to 38 countries. More than 9 million people viewed the exhibit. The only surviving edition was presented to
Luxembourg, the country of Steichen's birth, and is on permanent display in
Clervaux ().