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Source

Introduction [to The Family of Man catalog]

Steichen, Edward The Museum of Modern Art / Maco Magazine Corporation 1955 Tier 1 Unverified Accessed 2026-05-08 View source ↗

Citation

Steichen, Edward. “Introduction.” In The Family of Man. Prologue by Carl Sandburg. New York: Maco Magazine Corporation for The Museum of Modern Art, 1955. [Page number in catalog not confirmed from a direct fetch of the catalog; quoted below via the MoMA press release of June 21, 1955, which excerpts the introduction verbatim.]

Tier justification

Tier 1: a signed text by Edward Steichen himself — the creator and curator of The Family of Man. Per CREDIBILITY.md, “Steichen’s own writings — A Life in Photography (1963), correspondence, interviews of record” qualify as Tier 1 by author (not by venue). An introduction written by Steichen for the official exhibition catalog is the same class of primary self-statement, regardless of where it is read. The key passage is verified verbatim via the MoMA press release PDF (MOMA_1955_0073_56.pdf), which was directly read this session (2026-05-08).

Caveat on URL: the URL given points to the June 21, 1955 MoMA press release, which quotes the introduction; it does not link to the catalog itself. The introduction’s page number in the catalog is not confirmed from a direct fetch of the catalog (both archive.org catalog items, familyofman00stei and familyofmangreat00stei, are print-disabled). The quoted passage below is verified from the press release, not from the catalog directly.

Relevance

Steichen’s catalog introduction is the primary statement of his curatorial argument — the intellectual justification for The Family of Man as an exhibition concept. It was “specially written for the book” (as stated in the press release, p. 2) rather than a reprint of existing text, making it a purpose-built self-presentation. The passage confirmed in the press release articulates the twin claims of the exhibition: photography as a “dynamic process of giving form to ideas and of explaining man to man” and the exhibition’s conception as “a mirror of the universal elements and emotions in the everydayness of life — as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world.” These are the key claims that Barthes targets in his 1957 critique (“La grande famille des hommes” / “The Great Family of Man”), making this introduction the founding text against which the critical tradition defines itself.

Key excerpts / pages

The following passage is quoted verbatim from the MoMA press release of June 21, 1955 (MOMA_1955_0073_56.pdf, p. 2), which reproduces it as an excerpt from Steichen’s catalog introduction. The press release identifies this as drawn from “Mr. Steichen’s introduction, specially written for the book.” This is the passage as it appeared in the press release; character-for-character identity with the catalog text is assumed but not independently confirmed from the catalog itself (which was not read this session):

The exhibition, now permanently presented on the pages of this book, demonstrates that the art of photography is a dynamic process of giving form to ideas and of explaining man to man. It was conceived as a mirror of the universal elements and emotions in the everydayness of life – as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world.

  • Source of quote: MoMA press release, June 21, 1955, p. 2 (PDF read directly, 2026-05-08, via https://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/1958/releases/MOMA_1955_0073_56.pdf).
  • Page number in the catalog: NOT confirmed this round. The catalog is print-disabled on archive.org (familyofman00stei, familyofmangreat00stei); neither was readable. The introduction typically appears on one of the first unnumbered pages of the catalog, before the plates begin.
  • The Sandburg prologue’s concluding sentence is also quoted verbatim in the same press release (p. 2): “A camera testament, a drama of the grand canyon of humanity, an epic woven of fun, mystery and holiness – here is the Family of Man.” The Sandburg prologue is documented separately in src-moma-1955-catalog and src-moma-1955-press-release-book.

Notes

  • verified: false for the catalog introduction as a primary object — the canonical object identified by type: catalog and the title is the catalog itself, which has NOT been consulted (both archive.org catalog items are print-disabled). The verified flag is set to false to match that primary-object status. The press-release-quoted excerpt above WAS read verbatim from MOMA_1955_0073_56.pdf this session (2026-05-08); that anchor is documented under src-moma-1955-press-release-book (verified: true). Per CLAUDE.md’s anti-confabulation rule, the verified flag must reflect the canonical object’s verification status, not a downstream excerpt’s. The press release explicitly identifies the passage as from Steichen’s catalog introduction; that identification is what is anchored, not the catalog itself.
  • The catalog introduction as a whole was NOT read this session (catalog is print-disabled). The quoted passage is a press-release excerpt of unknown length relative to the full introduction.
  • This entry documents the introduction as a standalone Tier-1 primary text by Steichen. The catalog as an object is documented in src-moma-1955-catalog. The catalog’s bibliographic data (publisher, edition variants, page counts) should be sourced from that entry, not this one.
  • Cross-references:
    • src-moma-1955-catalog — the catalog as a bibliographic object.
    • src-moma-1955-press-release-book — the press release that quotes this introduction (June 21, 1955); directly read this session.
    • src-barthes-1957 / src-barthes-1957-fr — Barthes’ 1957 critique responds directly to the curatorial argument made in this introduction.
    • src-steichen-1958-wisconsin-magazine — Steichen’s 1958 article in the Wisconsin Magazine of History as a later statement of similar themes; that article is verified: false and was NOT read this session.
    • src-steichen-1963-life — the 1963 autobiography (A Life in Photography, Doubleday) as the book-length successor statement.
  • Perspective: primary self-statement. Steichen is presenting his own curatorial argument; Barthes (1957) and subsequent critics offer the counter-reading. Researchers should read this introduction alongside src-barthes-1957 to trace how the curatorial claim was constructed and then contested.
  • The phrase “explaining man to man” in the introduction is noteworthy: it embeds a claim about the communicative function of photography that positions the exhibition as a vehicle for cross-cultural understanding. This phrase is central to the humanist-universalism argument that both supporters and critics of the exhibition engaged.
  • See also research/reception-1950s-us-press.md for geographic concentration caveats on the 1955 US press coverage of the show.
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