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A classic for all mankind | The Family Of Man

books:


	• The Family Of Man The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2002 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews
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highly recommended

Great Book

This is the catalog of the most famous photo exhibit of all time. It reflects not only great photography, but also the post-war optimism of the era. This edition is affordable, but the printing is good and the size is OK for most bookshelves. Highly recommend.

My satisfaction with "Pass_it_on_Books.

I was very happy with the end result of this purchase. The person I dealt with was honest and straight forward. The book arrived promptly.
I would buy from this source again without hesitation.

A classic for all mankind

The Family of Man was all the rage when I was in college when the 60's were full of the promise of love for one another. As our world has continued on the bumpy and circuitous path toward enlightenment, taking steps forward and back, this book continues to remind us that throughout the world, we are more alike than different and our shared humanity is reason to put down arms and get along. I have chosen this book as a gift for my favorite graduates every spring, connecting my generation to future ones.

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The genetics of love

This now classic collection of photographs, prose and poetry depicts the human family in all our varieties and similarities. In the maddening fast pace time we live in, where we are presented with false dichotomies and "news" that promotes division and futility of purpose this book - this magnificent book - draws the reader into a calmer, slower pace, awe inspiring appreciation for the beauty and wonder of our species. When I first opened its pages I was skeptical - prepared to be disappointed by another commercial knock off that pretends to be one thing and ends with a solicitation to buy into some self serving, blame evoking finger pointing view, on the one hand, or an unrealistic, romanticized characterization of a simple and simplistic view of the good old days. An hour into the book I was completely captured by the poets and artists portrayal of the human family. This book will become a center piece of my family library - a resource of hope in a time of perpetual crises. Do yourself a favor - obtain a copy and rediscover our human family.

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Wonderful collection, but falls somewhat short of goal

I'm a photographer at the beginning of a project very similar to Steichen's "Family of Man" project. A colleague recommended "Family of Man" to me, and I of course wanted to study Steichen's collection to decide for myself what are its successes and failures and to get ideas with regard to my own project.

I absolutely loved the way the collection was organized! It began with those romantic stirrings between couples the world over, progressed through marriage, and then conception, birth, childhood, etc. The photography collection is all very beautiful and poignant and has representative works from many of the great photographers of the time. This would be a book well worth having, even absent the beautiful organization and greater purpose of the book.

Where the collection fell short of its goal is that it was overweight with American photography. I don't have anything against American photography. Indeed, I'm an American photographer! However, the intent of the project was to show the viewer the commonalities of mankind the world over -- to "prove" that we are all the same in so many ways. The overweighting in American images (perhaps 50% of the collection) and the overall paucity of non-Western images made this project much less comparative than it aspired to be. It is possible the project was originally intended to play mostly to an American audience, in which case the overweighting of American and Western imagery might be understandable.

I would also mention that certain themes are only barely addressed. Steichen was apparently somewhat timid to address the negative attributes of humanity, such as violence, greed, warfare, etc. Although these themes were briefly touched on, the material was sufficiently scarce as to lose almost all impact and comparative value. The overall focus of the collection seemed to be to make us feel good about humanity. (It did succeed in this respect.)

Finally, this project is over a half century old. Many cultures and societies have changed so much over this time, particularly with the industrialization of many third-world countries. This project bears repeating in the early 21st Century.

In summary, this collection/book does have its shortcomings and failings, but it is so beautiful a collection (and so nicely printed in the hard copy) that it is absolutely worth owning and studying. I give it 5 stars, despite its shortcomings, because of the beauty of the photography and the merit and importance of its goals.

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Hailed as the most successful exhibition of photography ever assembled, The Family of Man opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York in January 1955. This book, the permanent embodiment of Edward Steichen's monumental exhibition, reproduces all of the 503 images that Steichen described as "a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world. Photographs made in all parts of the world, of the gamut of life from birth to death." A classic and inspiring work, The Family of Man has been in print for more than forty years. The New York Times once wrote that it "symbolizes the universality of human emotions." First produced by a magazine publisher and sold by the hundreds of thousands on newsstands and in airport shops, The Family of Man has been in more recent years published by the Museum. It has been continuously in print since 1955; the present Thirtieth Anniversary Edition was prepared from original photographs with all new duotone plates in 1986.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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