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The Family of Man in Poland: An Exhibition as a Democratic Space?

100%

Leśniak K.

Ikonotheka

2016

vol. 26

213-238

The exhibition entitled The Family of Man, which was designed by Edward Steichen and presented for the fi rst time in 1955 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, belongs to the most famous and most controversial photographic expositions of the 20th century. Usually perceived in the light of the anachronistic, West-centric vision of humanism, i.e. as an embodiment of Modernist views on photography, it constitutes a good example of the museum’s infl uence as a Modernist “social instrument”. However, contemporary theories in exhibition studies offer a more complex interpretation. The present work provides insight into this process by referring to the views of Mieke Bal (on the “cinematic effect” of photographic exhibitions, the narrative and relational aspect of expositions), Fred Turner (on the space of an avant-garde exhibition as the realisation of the political and social idea of a “democratic personality”) and Ariella Azoulay (on exhibition space as a “visual declaration of human rights” and the fi eld for a “photographic social contract”). The primary aim of the present article is to set The Family of Man within the framework of Polish exhibition practices. The complex origins of the American project can be traced back to avant-garde experiments with exhibition space conducted in the Bauhaus movement and in Soviet Constructivism (the psychology of perception, “photo-murals”); the analysis focuses on the political and propagandistic aspects. An analysis of the above issues provides the starting point for considering the signifi cance and probable reception of the exhibition’s spatial arrangement in the milieu of Polish architects and designers as well as its Polish variant as prepared by Stanisław Zamecznik and Wojciech Fangor. It was therefore useful to refer to Oskar Hansen and his theory of Open Form, as he cooperated with Zamecznik and Fangor at the time. Models of avant-garde and Modernist “utopian thinking” are juxtaposed, thus making it possible to perceive the process of reception in the light of its effectiveness. The article also discusses The Family of Man as a model for projects with propaganda undertones, i.e. the so-called “problem-oriented exhibitions”. It mentions attempts at adapting Steichen’s design of exhibition space to the needs of the offi cial narrative in the People’s Republic of Poland. Finally, it uncovers the ambivalent nature of the infl uence of The Family of Man and the dual status of the exhibition as both a propagandistic project and as an anti-systemic space supporting the ideal of a creative, free individual.

"The Family of Man" po latach. Wokół krytyki i recepcji wystawy

71%

Leśniak K.

Roczniki Humanistyczne

2013

vol. 61

issue 4: Historia Sztuki

205-240

The photographic exhibition The Family of Man created by Edward Steichen was for the first time opened in the halls of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955. It was a great commercial success and in the next less than ten years it was shown in 68 countries the world over. In the years 1959-1960 it also came to Poland and owing to its favorable reception became one of the most important turning points in the history of the Polish post-war photography, both artistic and documentary. During the next years the exhibition The Family of Man was also subjected to harsh criticism. The starting point for the present paper is the image of the exhibition that emerges from the Polish writing. The literature of the subject is modest, it consists mainly of small contributions; moreover, there are several works, in which thoughts taken from a few famous critical texts devoted to the exhibition, among others from the texts by Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Allan Sekula, are cited without any reflections. Only some Polish researchers interpret these important critical opinions with respect to the specific political and artistic situation that existed in Poland of the 1950s and 1960s (among others socialist realism, Gomuła’s thaw). The present article aims at indicating the profits from a reinterpretation of the exhibition on the ground of the history of Polish photography, and also of Polish culture of the post-war decades. The author tries to indicate the basis for studying Polish reception of the Steichen project. The reflections contained in the present paper are mainly focused on several subjects that are important for the exhibition, like the war, the American politics in the era of the cold war, the family. Moreover, the discussion also points to some aspects of the origin of the exhibition and to the conception of photography that is contained in it.

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The Family of Man in Poland: An Exhibition as a Democratic Space?

"The Family of Man" po latach. Wokół krytyki i recepcji wystawy