The Family of Man

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Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York

'The Family of Man' was an exhibition of 503 photographs by 273 artists from 68 countries visualizing ideas of peace and 'the essential oneness of mankind'. The exhibition was created by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibition was grouped by themes common across all cultures: love, birth, labor, and joy, amongst others. Images by famous artists such as Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, Robert Doisneau, August Sander and Ansel Adams were staged in a modernist and spectacular manner. After its display, the exhibition became one of the most famous in photographic history, and toured more than 150 museums worldwide, attracting more than 10 million visitors. The photographs displayed in the exhibition focused on the commonalities that bind people and cultures around the world. It expressed humanism in the decade after World War II. The exhibition displayed peace and human brotherhood as a symbol in the light of the looming danger of an atomic war for Soviet citizens.