The Family of Man exhibition opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in January 1955. Edward Steichen conceived it, and it gathered more than 500 photographs about birth, love, work, war and death. It then toured the world, and it still divides critics. This is the fifth chapter of our series on the exhibitions that made photography history.
Few photography shows have reached so many people. By MoMA’s own account, the exhibition circulated to 88 venues in 37 countries and drew about 9 million visitors.1 Yet it also drew some of the sharpest criticism in the history of photography. That contrast is the reason why it still matters.
The previous chapter, Road to Victory, showed how Steichen used giant photographs to mobilize a nation. In 1955, however, he used the same tools to address humanity.
The Family of Man Exhibition: What Opened in January 1955
First, MoMA’s records give January 24, 1955, as the opening day and May 8 as the closing day. However, the press release of that month announced the run from January 26, with a press preview on January 25. In other words, the difference most likely reflects the release date, so we follow the museum’s own exhibition record.2
In fact, the press release says that Steichen conceived and directed the show, and that Wayne Miller assisted him. The two men spent more than two years selecting images from over two million photographs. Paul Rudolph, an architect, designed the installation, which filled the museum’s entire second-floor galleries.
The numbers: 503 photographs, 273 photographers, 68 countries
The figures need care. For instance, the 1955 release spoke of more than 500 photographs from 69 countries by 257 photographers. The later and standard count is 503 photographs by 273 photographers from 68 countries.3 Therefore we use the later figures here, and we treat the 1955 numbers as preliminary.
Inside the Family of Man Exhibition: A Walk Through Life
Visitors did not enter a gallery of masterpieces. Instead, they entered a story. The press release describes a prologue in the stairway and hall, with an enlarged telescope photograph of the Orion nebula, a child in a redwood forest, a Stone Age mask and a stream flowing into the ocean. First, the viewer saw the cosmos and the earth. Then the human story began.
From courtship to the hydrogen bomb
Overall, the show moved through love and courtship, family, work, play and daily life in many cultures. Next came death, compassion, prayer and hope, and also cruelty toward minorities, adolescence and women voting. In addition, literary quotations introduced each section, and Dorothy Norman researched them.
However, the ending shifted the tone. According to the press release, the final sequence turned to the threat of the hydrogen bomb, with a black gallery that held a large image of an explosion. A closing section on childhood then offered a way out. Thus, the sequence asked visitors to leave with more than a mood.
Sandburg’s words and the catalogue
Once again, Carl Sandburg supplied the words. He wrote an introduction that the museum distributed as a leaflet, and he wrote a poem that appeared, handwritten, on a panel in the prologue area. Eric Sandeen traces how the poet’s work with Steichen led from the wartime text of Road to Victory to this exhibition.4
Moreover, the catalogue extended the show’s reach beyond the museum. MoMA reports that about 2.5 million people had the accompanying book at home, and a 30th-anniversary edition followed in 1983.
How the Family of Man Exhibition Traveled the World
Indeed, few exhibitions travel as widely. MoMA counts 88 venues in 37 countries and about 9 million visitors. The Luxembourg collection, in contrast, speaks of more than 150 museums and about 10 million visitors between 1955 and 1962. The two figures measure different things, so we attribute each to its source rather than choose one.
Since then, scholars have studied the tour closely. Eric Sandeen, for example, examines how audiences abroad received the show and how it served American cultural diplomacy.5 Similarly, S. E. James shows that, in Berlin, the exhibition became a tool of Cold War humanism between East and West.6
Next, Fred Turner adds a further layer. He reads the show as a lesson in attention, a way to teach Americans to see themselves as part of a free and democratic world.7
Why the Family of Man Exhibition Drew Fierce Criticism
Admirers saw a plea for peace, but critics saw a myth. The most famous objection came from Roland Barthes, who wrote about the show in Mythologies after it reached Paris.8 His argument ran in two steps. First, the exhibition displayed human variety, and then it declared that all people share one nature. In his view, that move turned history into a timeless essence. Birth, work and death looked identical everywhere, even though social conditions differ.
Allan Sekula pushed the critique into politics. In “The Traffic in Photographs” (1981), he questioned the idea that photography is a universal language.9 Furthermore, he linked such claims to American power and to the way images circulated during the Cold War. For more on how academic criticism of this kind shaped the field, see our profile of October journal.
Finally, Tom Allbeson adds important context. His study of UNESCO shows that the idea of photography as a universal language was already common in the postwar decade, and that it often universalized particular cultural values.10 Consequently, Steichen’s show belongs to a larger moment, not to one curator’s naivety.
The Family of Man Exhibition Today: Clervaux and UNESCO
Today the exhibition survives in Luxembourg, Steichen’s native country. According to the Luxembourg collection, the last complete version arrived from the United States government in the mid-1960s. A partial display ran at Clervaux Castle from 1974 to 1989, and the full collection became a permanent exhibition there in 1994.
Afterward, the castle closed for renovation in 2010 and reopened in July 2013. UNESCO inscribed the collection on its Memory of the World register in 2003. The original prints are glued to wood frames, and they range from 24 by 36 centimeters to 300 by 400 centimeters, so conservators have had to restore them with great care.
Why the Family of Man Exhibition Still Matters
The Family of Man exhibition matters because it forced a question that photography has never settled. Can a picture speak for everyone? Steichen said yes, but Barthes and Sekula said no, and many later curators have tried to answer in between. The show also proved that a photography exhibition could reach millions of people.
Moreover, it shaped what came next. In the next chapter, New Documents, John Szarkowski answers Steichen with a very different idea: personal vision rather than universal humanity. For a wider view of MoMA’s role, read our review of Photography Until Now. Readers interested in another photograph that claims to speak for all humanity can also see Earthrise, or browse all of our exhibition articles.
Key Dates for the Family of Man Exhibition
| Date | Event | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 24 January–8 May 1955 | The Family of Man at MoMA | 503 photographs fill the second floor |
| 1955–1962 | International tour | MoMA counts 88 venues in 37 countries |
| 1957 | Barthes publishes Mythologies | The most famous critique appears |
| 1964–1966 | Last complete version goes to Luxembourg | Steichen’s native country receives the show |
| 1981 | Sekula publishes “The Traffic in Photographs” | The critique turns political |
| 1994 | Permanent display at Clervaux Castle | The exhibition gets a permanent home |
| 2003 | UNESCO Memory of the World inscription | International recognition |
Frequently Asked Questions
What was The Family of Man?
It was a photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955. Edward Steichen conceived and directed it, and it presented 503 photographs by 273 photographers from 68 countries.
Who designed the installation?
The architect Paul Rudolph designed the installation. Wayne Miller assisted Steichen, and Carl Sandburg wrote the introduction.
Why did Roland Barthes criticize it?
Barthes argued that the show presented human life as universal and timeless, and that this hid the social and historical conditions that separate people.
Where can I see the exhibition today?
Today, The Family of Man is on permanent display at Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg, and UNESCO lists it in the Memory of the World register.
How many people saw it?
MoMA reports about 9 million visitors at 88 venues in 37 countries. In contrast, the Luxembourg collection gives a higher estimate of about 10 million visitors.
Where can I read more?
Start with MoMA’s press release and the Luxembourg collection, then read the studies by Sandeen, James, Turner and Allbeson, all cited above.
- The Museum of Modern Art, “Edward Steichen Archive: The 55th Anniversary,” Inside/Out, 2010. The post gives the opening dates, the touring figures and the role of Paul Rudolph and Carl Sandburg. It also states 69 countries, a figure that other sources give as 68.
- The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA’s 1955 press release, January 1955. The release describes the venue, the installation, the prologue and the themes, and it gives preliminary figures.
- Centre national de l’audiovisuel, “The Family of Man” collection page, Steichen Collections, Luxembourg. The page gives the final figures, the later history of the exhibition and its UNESCO listing.
- Eric J. Sandeen, “Carl Sandburg’s Journey to The Family of Man,” in The Family of Man Revisited (Routledge, 2020), pp. 221–234, doi:10.4324/9781003103936-15.
- Eric Sandeen, “The International Reception of The Family of Man,” History of Photography 29, no. 4 (2005), pp. 344–355, doi:10.1080/03087298.2005.10442816.
- S. E. James, “A Post-Fascist Family of Man? Cold War Humanism, Democracy and Photography in Germany,” Oxford Art Journal 35, no. 3 (2012), pp. 315–336, doi:10.1093/oxartj/kcs032.
- Fred Turner, “The Family of Man and the Politics of Attention in Cold War America,” Public Culture 24, no. 1 (2012), pp. 55–84, doi:10.1215/08992363-1443556.
- Roland Barthes, “La grande famille des hommes,” in Mythologies (Paris: Seuil, 1957); English translation by Annette Lavers, Mythologies (London: Jonathan Cape, 1972).
- Allan Sekula, “The Traffic in Photographs,” Art Journal 41, no. 1 (1981), pp. 15–25, doi:10.1080/00043249.1981.10792441.
- Tom Allbeson, “Photographic Diplomacy in the Postwar World: UNESCO and the Conception of Photography as a Universal Language, 1946–1956,” Modern Intellectual History 12, no. 2 (2015), pp. 383–415, doi:10.1017/s1479244314000316.