wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Re: Future of the World Wide Panorama - Themes
mickael 2004-Aug-04 09:17:00
--- In #removed#, Are Flagan <#removed#> wrote:
>
> 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
thanks for putting me back in perspective Are, you're absolutely right. I haven't held the
book in some 30 years, and it's only a child memory for me, it did make photography
enter my home though and it was fascinating for the child I was then.
-m