wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Future of the World Wide Panorama - Themes
Are Flagan 2004-Aug-04 08:42:00
On Aug 4, 2004, at 3:17 AM, mickael wrote:
> any photographer here remembers Edward Steichen's "Family of Man"
> project done in
> 1955 for NY MOMA ? 273 photographers joined then. The book inspired
> my childhood like
> nothing else did since. I'm certainly in on this one. We could save
> it for 2005 though
>
> -mickael
>
I recommend Eric J. Sandeen's "Picturing an Exhibition: The Family of
Man and 1950s America," University of New Mexico Press. Needless to
say, the two were ideologically compatible. It was propaganda that
purposefully offended most of the non-white, non-affluent world and
declared America the winner of the bulge and that warm and cosy part of
the bourgeoning cold war. This does not mean it wasn't incredibly
popular, as well as unpopular. When the exhibition toured Moscow in
1959 (the expo where the famed Nixon/Khrushchev "debate" took place),
it became the subject of attacks and official censure. A Nigerian
student tore down several pictures and explained his actions with the
persistent gap between the naked savages and clothed dignitaries
depicted: "I could not stand the sight. It was insulting, undignified
and tendentious." A picture of a Chinese child supplicating before a
bowl of rice was also taken down. The NYT, and the Wash. Post, screamed
communist conspiracy and neglected to mention the Nigerian students
actions. And so on.
Even before it, in four versions, had finished its runs out of MoMA
between 55 and 62, the various subtexts created by rearranging the
stock photos for new contexts in 38 countries were looking more and
more out of synch; it was increasingly seen as an anthology of
middle-class tastes in Middle America -- The Family of Man, coming
together for Thanksgiving turkey post Korea and pre Vietnam. Although
it is clear that the political and ideological underpinnings that made
the exhibition such a tour de force then are back with a vengeance now
(the white man's burden of "democratization" is indeed heavily lifted
these days), it is perhaps worthwhile to better examine the histories
of the "themes" bandied about with such abandon. The Family of Man was
essentially an agitprop designed to secure and expand an ideological
base across the world. If humanity is seen as missing from the acronyms
that administer the aftermath of this shock and awe showing, such as
the UN, the WTO, the IMF etc, it is not due to The Family of Man ideals
turning dysfunctional. It is rather the apotheosis of this insular and
nuclear Family of Man spawned by elements of 1950s America.
I know this kind of talk really, really annoys all the Toby Keith fans
out there, so I'll spare the list further expositions of this nature.
With all the space of VR, however, it is easy to forget that
photography also exists in time, in history. Although the WWP's
wrinkles are of course a reminder ;-).
-af