History of Photography Podcast 3 : The Family of Man

When the exhibition The Family of Man opened in January of 1955, 60 years ago this month, visitors were greeted by more than 500 photographs and these words by the poet Carl Sandburg:
“People! Flung wide and far, born into toil, struggle, blood and dreams, among lovers, eaters, drinkers, workers, loafers, fighters, players, gamblers. Here are ironworkers, bridgemen, musicians, sandhogs, miners, builders of huts and skyscrapers, jungle hunters, landlords and the landless, the loved and the unloved, the lonely and the abandoned, the brutal and the compassionate-one big family hugging close to the ball of Earth for its life and being.”

[@philipulanowsky4661]

Well done. I am a strong believer in the power of the single still image. The counter to this power has intensified by an order of magnitude or more with the cell phone. People snap selfies and snapshots to post on Instagram rather than paying attention to the exhibit. I see it every time I go to a museum that allows photography. However, I am encouraged by a variety of evidence that a growing number in younger generations are starting to reject this flood of meaningless data. They want their lives to mean something. I am optimistic that this change will be part of a tectonic shift in paradigm now underway across the globe.

[@JeffCurto]

Here's hoping, right? I travel in Italy frequently and have seen this giant shift - more and more people are seeing the sites they visit with a phone in between it and them. But every once in a while, you'll see someone really looking - looking and talking with a companion about what it is they are seeing and what they think about it. We're not dead yet.

[@anx46]

thanks!

[@ajlich7987]

thank you professor, this helped me with my homework!

[@JeffCurto]

Happy it was useful!

[@pichiliza]

EXCELLENT! By any chance, do you know how many books were printed in the first edition?

[@JeffCurto]

Thank you! I'm sorry to say that I have no idea... wish I did!