Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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The Family of Man
Inscribed 2003
What is it
The 1956 version of the photographic exhibition,
created by Edward Steichen for the New York Museum
of Modern Art which consisted of 503 photographs
taken by 273 photographers from sixty-eight countries,
and described as the ‘greatest photographic enterprise
ever undertaken’.
Why was it inscribed
The exhibition, the scope of which has yet to be
matched, was created to illustrate all aspect of human
life, irrespective of geography, nationality or race. It
influenced other exhibition organizers and stirred public
interest in photography by communicating a personal,
humanist message.
Where is it
Musée The Family of Man, Château de Clervaux,
Luxembourg
510 The Family of Man
After years of preparation by Edward Steichen, the
Family of Man exhibition opened in 1955 at the Museum
of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Stemming from a
profound personal conviction of the ability of photography
to communicate ideas and to explain mankind to itself, it
offered infinitely diverse images of human beings living
in the 1950s, but it nevertheless emphatically reminded
visitors that they all belong to the same big family. The
thirty-two themes, arranged chronologically, reflected a
range of emotions in their subjects, from great joy to deep
unhappiness, and with a longing for peace contrasted
with the reality of bloody conflict. The themes emphasize
the role of democratic structures and, in the exhibition’s
conclusion, the United Nations’ role as the only body
capable of saving the world from the ‘scourge of war . . .
and [of reaffirming] faith in fundamental human rights’
(Charter of the United Nations).
It consisted of 503 photographs taken by 273 professional
and amateur photographers, famous and unknown, from
sixty-eight countries. A huge undertaking, with unique
cultural and artistic dimensions, it had a considerable