Introducing this increasingly widespread metaphorical style to the public was a curatorial challenge for museums When organizing

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Introducing this increasingly widespread metaphorical style to the public was a curatorial challenge for museums When organizing The Family of Man an exhibi tion that celebrated universal humanism at the Museum of Modern Art Edward Steichen thought Wynn Bullock s 1902 1975 image Child in Forest symbolized the mythical first woman and he chose it as the show s opening piece Steichen selected Bullock because he believed the photographer s visual language joined the natural environment with the abstract symbolism of the inner world in an ac cessible manner Although the composition of Bullock s work is highly structured the authority of his images lies in their ambiguous temperament that expresses his belief that reality is constructed through personal experience 29 The Family of Man exhibition and book was the major American photographic event of the 1950s Organized by Steichen the director of the Department of Photography at MOMA 1947 1962 as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind 30 it had a highly enthusiastic public reception in 1955 31 Working on the proposition that photography was a universal language Steichen assembled 508 images from 68 countries by 273 photographers into a giant three dimen sional magazine layout To match its democratic premise that people were all the same Steichen did not treat the photographs as individual works but as pieces of a larger tapestry just as in magazine practice where photographers give up con trol over image quality size placement and context This set aside the achieve ments of individual photographers to support Steichen s collective curatorial stance Jacob Deschin the photography critic for The New York Times called it es editorial achievement Ifor Ste Discussion Board Posts 25 total As a measure of your participation you will write 200 word minin responses to the readings as well as responding to at least one oth post In these posts I want to see concrete examples where you critically reflect on the readings This can include citing specific photographs and photographers theoretical connections between different readings ideas themes and or the author s own argumen

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