The Family Of Man Analysis

The 1950s was a special decade for photography. In 1955 Edward Steichen opened The Family of Man show which used photography as a bridge between art and social awareness. The show took place in the Museum of Modern Art, according to lecture, the social function of museums shifted during World War 2 from elite audiences and complex art to easily digestible art and a wider audience (Perlman May 9th). After the release of The Family of Man show Robert Frank released his book titled The Americans in 1959. This book used photography to critique the consumer driven culture of America but it also demonstrated the similarities that this divided nation had with the rest of the world. I believe that both works of art depict humanity but The Family of

Frank used to be a commercial photographer, which is ironic because his work critiqued the consumer culture that plagued America. According to Cotkin “Frank’s volume of photographs had been rejected by publishers because of its depressing, ‘un-american’ hues” (Cotkin 21). The American, consists of images that reflect the dichotomy of white and black people in America, and Cotkin argues that “Black Americans became for Frank the representatives of authenticity and possibility of freedom…” (Cotkin 26). Cotkin also describes the white people being portrayed in this book as less free than the black americans because they are being weighed down by their materials. However I disagree, I believe that this book attempts to demonstrate the similarities between black and white people within the boundary of race. For example, in most images when there is both black and white people the white people outnumber the black. I believe this demonstrates the inequality in politics, the workforce and day to day life. There is an image of politicians sitting down and only one black man is visible, in the diner there is a row of men and one black waitress, and the photograph of the pedestrians only has three black people and one of them is out of the frame. Despite this distinction, when there is only one race in the photograph we can see the similarities. For example, the three non caucasian

The variety of locations aids in its effort to enlighten the people of their humanity and the incorporation of various ideological quotes further enhances the unity that people from a wide variety of religions can understand. However, The American tackles issues that The Family of Man fails to address, despite the similarities we all share, there are many differences that impact people 's lives like gender, religion race and class. The overwhelming amount of white people compared to black people in The Americans is not seen in Steichen, instead Steichen’s work is almost seen as proportional. It fails to accurately reflect social issues and is naive compare to Frank’s