The Family of Man [review]
Citation
McKenna, Rollie. [Review of The Family of Man.] The New Republic 132, no. 11 (March 14, 1955): 30.
Tier justification
Tier 3: named-author review in a major US literary and political weekly (The New Republic qualifies as a newspaper-of-record-equivalent for cultural criticism under Tier 3 as an established periodical with editorial standards). Rollie McKenna was a working photographer and writer. The bibliographic details are confirmed from Wikipedia’s raw citation (fetched 2026-04-30) and from the archive.org metadata for the March 14, 1955 issue.
Relevance
McKenna’s review is cited in the Wikipedia article on The Family of Man as a primary contemporary reception source describing the exhibition as resembling ‘a funhouse ride’ — a vivid experiential characterisation of Paul Rudolph’s immersive installation design. This phrasing makes it an important document for understanding how visitors (and photographic practitioners) experienced the spatial and sensory dimensions of the show, complementing the architectural documentation in src-rudolph-interiors-1955. The March 14, 1955 publication date places it within the opening months of the exhibition’s MoMA run (January 24 – May 8, 1955). The New Republic’s readership (politically engaged, nationally distributed, culturally literate) differs from both the New York art press and the photography trade press.
Key excerpts / pages
- McKenna’s characterisation of the exhibition experience (paraphrased in Wikipedia’s article on The Family of Man, fetched 2026-04-30): compared the exhibition experience to ‘a funhouse ride.’ (This paraphrase comes from Wikipedia, NOT from a direct fetch of the New Republic article. The article was not read in this session.)
- Publication confirmed: The New Republic, vol. 132, no. 11, March 14, 1955, p. 30. (Source: Wikipedia raw wikitext for ‘The Family of Man’, fetched 2026-04-30.)
- Article title NOT confirmed this round — only the author, periodical, date, volume, issue, and page number are confirmed from the Wikipedia citation.
Notes
- Archive.org item confirmed 2026-04-30: identifier
sim_new-republic_1955-03-14_132_11, Vol. 132, Issue 11, March 14, 1955, 32 pages, publisher New Republic, ISSN 0028-6583. Access-restricted (print disabled). Digitized from microfilm (IA1643525-01). The OCR text was NOT accessible via thearchive.org/stream/path for this item. - Flagged
verified: falsebecause the original article was not fetched or read in this session. - Rollie McKenna (1918–2003): confirmed via Wikipedia’s article on Rollie McKenna (fetched 2026-04-30) as an American photographer who published A Life in Photography (1991). The Wikipedia article on McKenna does NOT mention her writing for The New Republic or reviewing the Family of Man. The attribution comes solely from the Wikipedia citation in the Family of Man article.
- Caution: Wikipedia’s ‘Family of Man’ article attributes the ‘funhouse’ simile to McKenna and The New Republic; this attribution should be verified against the original article before quoting in any museum context.
- To verify: obtain access to The New Republic March 14, 1955 (ProQuest, physical library) and read p. 30 directly. Confirm article title, exact quotations, and the full critical argument before upgrading to
verified: true. - Cross-reference: McKenna’s characterisation of the space complements the architectural record (
src-rudolph-interiors-1955) and the broader installation documentation insrc-paul-rudolph-institute-fom-archive.