 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | 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. |
Average Customer Rating:  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. Sine qua non... Latin words, which should be used most judiciously. An essential book, even THE essential book, not just of photography, but in the sense of any vehicle which conveys the fundamental truths of the human condition. It is one of those rare "life-time" books, that if you are truly blessed, you discover in your youth, and savor and reflect on its images over a lifetime. (as some other reviewers at Amazon have, including this one.)
After the horrors of the Second World War, Edward Steichen was inspired to search through thousands and thousands of photos, and distilled this search into 503 photos, taken in 68 countries, whose theme was the universality of humankind, starting with "when I was just a twinkle in my father's (mother's?) eye, through marriage, birth, childhood, work, joy, family, dance, tragedy, and it ends, coming full circle, in one of the most perfect photos ever made, carefully composed by someone who understood the horrors of war all too well, W. Eugene Smith, who was badly wounded in WW II. It was his very first photo he composed upon recovery, taken as two small children emerge from the woods, walking upwards, into the light.
Equally impressive are the epigraphs that Steichen chose for his collections, ones that have resonated over the years, starting with the "and yes I said yes I will yes" of James Joyce, which led me to Ulysses, to the "If I did not work, these worlds would perish." of the Bhagavad-Gita, the "land is a mother that never dies" of the Maori, and "... I am alone with the beating of my heart..." by Lui Chi, and so many others. And the admonition of Bertrand Russell is as valid today, though far less thought of, than during the days of the Cold War, and it rightly was reserved for an entire page: "... the best authorities are unanimous in saying that war with hydrogen bombs is quite likely to put an end to the human race ... there will be universal death--suddenly only for a fortunate minority. But for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration..."
Each of the photos can be observed and appreciated again and again. A few have been popularized in other settings, such as the woman and man hugging, with the train in the background, which was the cover of Richard Ford's "Women with Men." When I was in the Jewish cemetery in Prague, with the heaped and twisted tombstones, I thought of the boy standing in a similar cemetery in France, a sense of bewilderment on his face. There is the wonderful juxtaposition of extended families, one taken in Bechuanaland, the other in the USA. There is a photo of a black American man and woman, she lying on the bed, he sitting, and you just know they are discussing their economic troubles. And all the pictures take by photographers of the Farm Security Administration during the last Depression, each so moving, one of a man turned against the crowd, leaning on a fence, with a cup between his arms. Of all of them though, it is the one by Smith, of the children walking into the light, with a sense of exploration, that I tried to emulate, with my own children, at an old station along the Hijaz Railway, in 1989, alas, far less successfully.
I think one would have to be particularly mean-spirited or obtuse to give this book any less than a 5-star rating, and so far, only one has. As the Sioux Indian epigraph has it: "Behold this and always love it! It is very sacred, and you must treat it as such..."
best book of all Best photography book about we human beings covering pictures about love, marriage,birth,childhood, growing up, work, getting along, war, and old age.
It is truly well done and my favourite for myself and to give as a gift to someone you care about, who is interested in humanity. |  |
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