(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, July 07, 2013 ) Huddersfield, UK -- Edward Steichen changed photography in 1955 when he created an exhibition that promoted world peace and equality following a pair of world wars. At the time he was breaking the mold as
he gathered hundreds of photographers from all corners of the globe, grouping their efforts by theme.
The exhibition, The Family of Man, opened at the New York Museum of Modern Art, where Steichen was director of photography from 1947 to 1961. He took the exhibition on tour, and it became the most successful such tour of all time. Over 10 million have seen it, and it will now return to tour after a three-year effort comes to fruition.
"Family of Man changed the way we view photographs today, and how we think about exhibitions," says Anke Reitz, conservator of The Family of Man in Luxembourg, where the collection has been since 1994. "It is a milestone in the history of photography." Steichen chose images grouped by themes intended to be so universal that anyone in any culture could identify with them: birth, fathers and sons, mothers and children, education, love, work, death and religion. The images were hung in particular formations, some dangling from wires overhead or attached to poles. The birth photos were arranged inside an intimate circular structure, while theatrical lighting created further drama and atmosphere. Steichen hung the photos without captions. "The exhibition was meant to be understood around the world without the need for words," says Reitz.
The exhibition has lost nothing as it is set within its new renovated setting in Luxembourg, Steichen's country of birth. Only the lighting of the exhibit has been altered, thanks to advances in the area, and the works include pieces by Dorothea Lange, Bill Brandt, and Elliott Erwitt. The work has kept its striking and intriguing qualities even over a half-century later.
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