The Family of Man

An exhibition of photographs, called The Family of Man, opened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on 26 January 1955. It subsequently traveled to several cities in the USA and then to 69 exhibition venues in 37 foreign countries. Measured by the number of people who visited the exhibition, or bought its catalog, The Family of Man is probably the most successful exhibition in the history of photography. It is also, probably, the most controversial – in the sense that serious photographers seem to still disparage the exhibition’s intents and achievements whenever its name is mentioned.