Reviews (17)

This book is a classic - timeless and striking.
The Family of Man - first published in 1955 - is the pictorial record of one of the most riveting exhibitions of photography of all time. The book, which contains some text, is a poignant treasure of the human condition - from birth to death. It shows man's relation and connection to life, regardless of country or language and all that we share through love, pain, rituals and simply coping. The phrase " a picture is worth a thousand words" comes alive in The Family of Man.

A brilliant presentation of the human spirit on film
This book details the Family of Man photography exhibit composed of photos that Edward Steichen collected from photographers throughout the world. From the intro by Carl Sandburg (his brother in law), to the photographs of birth, life, death and the emotions and events in between, the book shows true humanity through the eyes of the camera. Featuring works by many famous, but yet unknown photographers, this book is a true treasure. When you glance at its pages you will discover new perspectives, or maybe something inside yourself. This is not a picture book, but a photo biography of the human race. If you are tired of coffee table books that sit unopened, pick up this book a few times and share it with your friends. You will read it again and again, discovering new secrets with every turn of a page.

Most wonderful wonderful and yet again wonderful
First time I saw the pictures collected by Edward Steichen was in the permanent museum of the exhibition, Clervaux in Luxembourg.

I was keeped almost in silence from entering to exiting and the message of the pictures was striking to me then - and 15 years later it still is.

This is a collection of pictures from all the world, picked between Thousands to be the best pictures to describe the family of man as we ALL are. No matter of colour, religion, origin or political believe we are all sons, fathers, lovers, hungry, thirsty, at times fearful and at times playful - WE ARE ALL ALIKE!

This message is as important now as it was in the 50` and looking at extreemist and the war of terror, you can only wonder how come we have learned nothing in 50 years.

The book brings me back to Clervaux and the thoughts about life, and each time I stop at a different picture or text, that captures the essence of where I am at that time of life. The book is universal not only to man but also to moods.

However happy I am to own the book it is nothing compared with the exhibition in Luxembourg. I can only say that I returned and will return again, and for the full experience of these pictures I will recommend it to all.

Note that all (but one) customer reviews are 5 stars!!!
This is simply the best collections of photographs that I have ever seen. The book dates from the 50's, but the subject matter... humans... are the same today. Buy this for yourself, of as a special gift for a special person, and you'll not regret it. (I only wish it were still published in hard cover)

Beautiful, Thoughtful
I have given this book as a gift many times over the years, and can't recommend it enough. The photographs are beautiful, giving the viewer a sense of what is common in the overall human experience. Simple, straight-forward in content, and very moving. An essential volume of photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

During the 1920s and 1930s, Edward Steichen was the mostsuccessfulphotographer in the advertising industry. Although much has been saidaboutSteichen's fine-art photography, his commercial workwhich appearedregularly inVanity Fair, Vogue, Ladies Home Journal, and almost every other popularmagazinepublished in the United Stateshas not received the attention itdeserves.At a time when photography was just beginning to replace drawings as thefavoredmedium for advertising, Steichen helped transform the producers of suchproductsas Welch's grape juice and Jergens lotion from small family businessestonational household names. In this book, Patricia Johnston usesSteichen's workas a case study of the history of advertising and the American economybetweenthe wars. She traces the development of Steichen's work from an earlynaturalistic style through increasingly calculated attempts to constructconsumer fantasies. By the 1930s, alluring images of romance and class,developed in collaboration with agency staff and packaged in overtlymanipulative and persuasive photographs, became Steichen's stock-in- trade. Hewas most frequently chosen by agencies for products targeted towardwomen: hisimages depicted vivacious singles, earnest new mothers, and otherstereotypically female life stages that reveal a great deal about theindustry'sperceptions of and pitches to this particular audience. Johnston presents an intriguing inside view of advertising agencies,drawing onan array of internal documents to reconstruct the team process thatinvolvedclients, art directors, account executives, copywriters, andphotographers. Herbook is a telling chronicle of the role of mass media imagery inreflecting,shaping, and challenging social values in American culture. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the most influential figures in the history of photography, Edward Steichen (1879-1973) was also one of the most precocious. Born in Luxembourg, raised in Wisconsin, and trained as a lithographer's apprentice, Steichen took up photography in his teens and by age twenty-three had created brooding tonalist landscapes and brilliant psychological studies that won the praise of Alfred Stieglitz in New York and Auguste Rodin in Paris, among others. Over the next decade, this young man--the preferred portraitist of the elite of two continents--was repeatedly acclaimed as the peerless master of the painterly photograph. This volume, covering the period from the late 1890s to World War I, highlights masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses the finest collection of Steichen's early work in the world, and reproduces them in near-facsimile through four-color digital offset lithography.

Steichen worked with a designer's inventive eye, a Symbolist's poetic sensibility, an entrepreneur's charisma, and--above all--the originality and finesse of a creative and painstaking printer to establish ambitious new standards in artistic photography. Overlaying the subtle tone-poetry of his platinum prints with repeated washes of harmonious color, he created unforgettable images. In his three famous twilight views of New York's Flatiron Building, one of the landmarks of turn-of-the-century architecture, Steichen crafted a powerful symbol of a new age. His stunning sequence of Rodin's Balzac figure in the moonlight is presented here as are his nudes, with their frankly erotic sense of flesh and weight. And the intense energy of a decade comes to life in his portraits of a diverse cast ranging from Richard Strauss to J. P. Morgan, Maurice Maeterlinck to George Bernard Shaw--and Steichen himself, the founding auteur of a century of celebrity. In the accompanying text, Joel Smith explores Steichen's maturing artistry in the light of contemporary developments in photography, graphic design, and the decorative arts.

This is a stunning visual record of the emergence of Steichen as a great artist and is one of the most important books to be published on his life and work in recent years. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Steichen; Early Master
This is an excellent photography book. It highlights the early career of this true master of the medium. Steichen's work rivals his contemporaries Steiglitz and Strand.A must have for any serious collector of photography monographs. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Edward Steichen was a visionary determined to show that photography wasan art form as well as a craft, which explains the painterly stylecharacterizing his early images. His portraits resonate with echoes of Whistlerand Sargent; like Whistler, he used terms such as pastorale and nocturne astitles for his landscapes to suggest their affinity with music. His experimentswith color images of flowers, dating as early as 1907, look back to thepaintings of Fantin-Latour yet anticipate Robert Mapplethorpe. He exploredphotography's potential to immortalize the chance play of shadows on flatsurfaces and the unexpected beauty of decayed plants. Beyond his artistic eye,Steichen's sensitivity and daring were evident in the international photographicexhibition The Family ofMan that he organized for the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. The text ofSteichen's Legacy is written by the photographer's widow, Joanna, who metSteichen when he was 80 and she was 28. Though her intensely personalrecollections are a unique window on Steichen's life and an excellent source ofanecdote, they form an uneasy mix of art history and biography--the lovingmemories of one so intimate with Steichen do not form the most solid base foranalyzing his work. Her choice of images, however, and the book's rich visualpresentation make it a magnificent tribute to one of photography's greatinterpreters and innovators. His legacy is well served by the 300 high-qualityduotones, tritones, and full-color images that illustrate this substantialvolume, printed in Italy on fine art paper and a tour de force of bookproduction. --John Stevenson ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Extremely Well Reproduced Images and Personal Insights
This book belongs in the home of everyone who loves great photography.

" . . . [S]eeing led to understanding and understanding could transform suspicion, hatred and violence into tolerance, peace and love." This was Steichen's vision for his oeuvre, as reported by his widow, Joanna, in this rewarding retrospective and series of biographical essays. In keeping with that vision, Ms. Steichen has developed this wonderful volume in the following way: "I want the reader to have optimal opportunity to experience the images simply as images." In that, she was remarkably successful. She graciously acknowledges the aid of George Tice, the last of those who printed for Steichen, in preparing the volume.

Each page is gorgeously reproduced in superb size, on great paper, and with thoughtful care concerning the sharpness, lack of sharpness, or contrast required to express Steichen's intent for each image.

Before going further, let me mention that Steichen's work does include female nudity. There are few of these images, and only one is potentially challenging for the viewer. If such things bother you, skip that section of the book called "the Body" or skip this volume.

If you are not familiar with Steichen's personal life, you should know that he and his wife first met when he was 80 and she was 28, when Carl Sandburg, Steichen's brother-in-law, introduced them. They soon fell in love and married. Steichen then drafted her to be his personal assistant, and she became very familiar with his work and collaborators. When he died, he left his negatives to her for use and disposition, and directed that she also decide who was to get his prints. From seeing the care in selecting images and the quality of their reproduction in this volume, he chose well in leaving his artistic legacy to her.

The intent of her selection process was to provide an overview of his life's work, so you get a combination of the famous and the seldom-seen here. These are grouped around themes as follows: Next of Kin (his family); of Woods and Water (landscapes), Reverie (foggy romantic images); Powerful People; Challenging Women; Style; the Body; Artists; Early Color Process; Writers; on the Road; Masters of Music; New York City; Glamour; Scale and Symbol; Improvisation; Forces of Nature; On Stage; and Flowers.

The essays about these sections contain personal anecdotes that are more revealing about his life than his work. But for those who do not know his technique, there is an overview to explain his interests and methods. For example, the connections to painting, abstraction, and setting a mood are well established. The many luminescent images against a dark background, shaded by fuzziness, are explained by his experience with mist on the lens later aided by deliberate use of saliva and indirect lighting.

My favorites of the images here include:

With Studio Camera (self-portrait), 1917

With Photographic Paraphernalia (self-portrait), 1929

Theodore Roosevelt, The White House, 1908

Walter Winchell, New York, 1929

The Cat -- Gloria Swanson, 1924

Mary Steichen, 1917

Shoes, 1927

Douglass Lighters, 1928

Thumbtacks, 1926-1927

Nude Torso, c. 1934

Dana's Hands and Grasses, Long Island, New York, 1923

The First Cast of Brancusi's "Bird in Space", c. 1925

Carl Sandburg, Umpawaug Farm, 1939

Irving Berlin, 1932

George Gershin, 1927

Martha Graham (4), New York, 1931

Noel Coward, New York, 1932

Leslie Howard, 1933

Joan Crawford, 1932

Spiral Shell, France, c. 1921

Ed Wynn, New York, 1930

Katherine Hepburn, 1933

Having seen all of these images, I came away most impressed with those rare occasions when personal character, abstraction, and shadows could be combined into the same image. The results are simply breathtaking.

Steichen has significance in three ways for the modern viewer. He pioneered in making photography an "art" rather than pure representation. These pioneering efforts established many of the major methods used by photographers since. Second, he was an important curator of photography, and he championed many careers. Third, he was remarkably talented in capturing personality, much like the great portrait painters.

The essays add a fourth dimension to Steichen that is well worth our attention. What is it like to be an acknowledged genius in your field? What are the challenges? What are the pitfalls?

"He was full of contradictions." "Meeting the daily needs of individuals was not his concern." "His capacity for connecting truly and intensely operated on a grander scale." In this way, Steichen reminds one of many great people who withdraw into their work. Compared to Einstein, his withdrawal was not nearly as complete. Compared to Picasso, he did not actually torment his family deliberately. But, it is clear that his career came before all else.

"Steichen had a conscience and room for compasssion, but he also had an urgent, lifelong mandate for accomplishment." He comes across as the archetype of the modern self-absorbed striver, and his example bears witnessing. After a rough session in which the author suffered tough treatment from her husband, friends often took her aside to reassure her that everyone eventually found their lives enriched by knowing Steichen. Ms. Steichen echoes that advice in this volume also. So ultimately, the picture you get is of someone where the heart ultimately overcame the obsession with work and self-expression, but not without creating pain for others along the way.

After you finish enjoying this delightful group of great images, I suggest that you think about your own life. Where may you have an obsession that causes pain to those around you? How can you change that approach to create more joy and happiness instead, for others and for yourself? If you are not sure, perhaps the outstanding book, Relationship Rescue, and The Relationship Rescue Workbook can help you.

Accomplish with all your heart!

For Photography Lovers & Memoir Readers Everywhere!
This beautifully printed book is obviously a labor of love on all sides. With text by the widow of Edward Steichen, the book is unique in that it weaves together the extraordinary photographs of this great American master with an intriguing story which is more memoir than dull academic treatise. While Edward Steichen's beautifully reproduced photographs provide a feast for the eyes, Joanna Steichen tells his story and looks at their life together honestly, bringing to her text the heart and soul of a true writer. She discusses the groupings of photographs from her own experiences as the young wife of a much older, great man, and she shares her memories of their sometimes difficult marriage. Even more extraordinary is that all of this is so accessible to a general audience, which is generally not the case with most art books. What this reviewer finds particularly interesting is the way the book is laid out -- in chapters with titles like "Of Woods and Water," "Forces of Nature," and "Challenging Women," instead of by dull academic chronology or by technical photographic process. In sum, this is really two books -- an art book and a memoir -- in one, and although this may confuse professional reviewers in the national press it should not dissuade readers. Put it on your holiday list if you want to give a very special gift to a very special person. For photographers, of course, the book is a "must buy." Edward Steichen was a true American original who lived a long and exciting life to the fullest, and was a pioneer in his field. "Steichen's Legacy" will interest almost everyone.

Steichen's Legacy - Photographs, 1895-1973
This new book by Joanna Steichen is an excellent stand-alone reference on Edward Steichen's long career in photography. The quality of the reproduction is high and the book includes a good number of photographs that are seldom or never seen in the other books written on Steichen's career. The text is easy to read and does not contain "art gibberish" - a major positive point! Joanna Steichen's comments on her relationship with Edward are revealing and are of great interest to those who have studied Edward Steichen in some detail. There is some weakness in the text in regard to events early in the century. Questions about some of the stories concerning Edward Steichen remain unanswered (for example, the often told tale of the painting burning in France still has no specific date). So far as photo selection goes the book is excellent. My only real disappointment here was in the selection of autochromes. The autochrome shown on the dust jacket is spectacular but some of the others selected are fairly well known and, in my opinion, somewhat overrated. To its credit, the book includes color reproductions of some of Edward's 1920's work such as "Wheelbarrow with Flower Pots" and "Dana and the Apple". I highly recommend this book, even to those who already have an extensive collection of books on Edward Steichen. ... Read more

Book Description

The Family of Man, a photography exhibit curated by Edward Steichen, opened at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. More people saw that exhibit than any other show of photographs, and the book of the same title remains in print to this day. Despite the enormous success of this assemblage of photographs, surprisingly little critical attention has been paid to The Family of Man as a phenomenon.

Eric Sandeen presents here the first in-depth study of the exhibit and its influence worldwide. He examines how the exhibit came to be assembled, the beliefs and background Edward Steichen brought to the project, and what he wanted to show about the human condition from his selection of images. He then looks at the politics and culture of the 1950s to determine why the show was so popular at the time. When the United States Information Agency toured the photographs throughout the world in five different versions for seven years, The Family of Man became a symbol for and projection of American values and the culture of abundance.

The richness and historical complexity of this exhibit have been overlooked, especially in the post-Vietnam decades, as critics have been quick to dismiss it as sentimental. Sandeen shows the exhibit to be a great deal more than a compendium of beautiful but unchallenging photographs. He also unfolds its multilayered relationship with and reflection of the values of postwar America. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The book is just photography at its best.
First printed in the 50's, "The Family of Man" is just loaded with images that we see until today, a history of photography. Hundreds of photographers from several countries sent their best images to this exposition. The result is this particular book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

For Quality Alone, a Nice Edition...
This book is printed on high quality paper, but be careful as it is a small soft-cover book with little less than 50 pages to it. And if you're already familiar with Stiechen's work, many of the photos will be very familiar to you. But, for it's price it's a nice addition to an avid collector of photography or Stiechen related photography. ... Read more

Amazon.com

From his legendary association with Alfred Stieglitz in the groundbreaking 291 Gallery to his selection of photographs for The Family of Man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Edward Steichen (1879-1973) stood at the forefront of artistic innovation in America and Europe. Penelope Niven, biographer of Carl Sandburg (Steichen's brother-in-law), affectionately depicts her subject. She carefully assesses Steichen's three marriages, his supportive relationships with other artists, and the humanistic vision that informed his photography. Her comprehensive study reminds us of Steichen's central role in elevating photography to a crucial 20th-century art form. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Perhaps Out-of-Print, but Not Out-of-Mind!
This is an exhaustively researched and beautifully written book about a major force in American photography and American life. There have been many academic and art books devoted to the work of Edward Steichen, and he has written about himself on one or two occasions, but never had someone written the definitive biogaphy . . . until Penelope Niven decided to do so after "getting to know Steichen" during the years she spent researching and writing about his equally famous brother-in-law, Carl Sandburg.

Readers should not be put off by the book's density (it runs to almost 800 pages). Niven is exhaustive but not exhausting, and her narrative is easy to read, detailing the long and fascinating life of an extraordinary man. The biography is also extremely accurate. Future writers in years to come will look to this book for critical source material. The author is a born researcher.

The book is presently out-of-print, a lamentable situation given the recent Whitney Museum of American Art Steichen retrospective and a dazzling new book by Steichen's widow, Joanna Steichen. This biography, if it had been available, would have been a fine accompaniment to both, giving museumgoers and general readers the chance to learn more about this American artist,and providing a counterbalance to Joanna Steichen's more visual, personal, and introspective book.

In sum, this is the grand story of the life of an important American artist, written by a biographer not an art historian. As such, it will appeal to a wide range of readers. We look for a paperback edition of this book, and can only hope one will soon be available.

The only biography about an extraordinary man
Surprisingly, this is the only biography I have found so far about Edward Steichen. Thank goodness it is an excellent one, combining extraordinary research with fine writing. For those interested in Edward Steichen's long and productive life as well as his work, this is a "must have" book, especially now that there is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Well written, well researched and well documented.
Steichen was a genius, and never more so than when he influenced Alfred Steiglitz to show Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Marin, etc for the first time ever in the United States. Steiglitz is given credit, sometimes wholly, but truly it wouldn't have happened without Steichen. I recommend this wonderful book!

Excellent Read!
This book may look formidable by its size, but what a wonderful world you will enter once you begin the story of this photographic genius and his place in time. Niven's work is carefully researched and Steichen's relationships with Steiglitz, Rodin and other artistic greats of the turn of the century are all detailed . She carefully documents his work at the Army and Navy, Vanity Fair, and MOMA. Of added interest is the story about his sister's marriage to Carl Sandburg and the close relationship Steichen and Sandburg devleoped. Enjoy!

A fine survey of an incredible life
This book is an incredibly fascinating look at the life of one of the most important men in the melding of art and photography. I am accustomed to looking at photographers mostly through their work, and I was a little hesitant to actually read a biography of a photographer. But Steichen's life is so fascinating, and he existed in such a rich time period for art and photography, that I found this account to be totally enveloping. I had trouble putting this book down, all 700 pages of it. Really a must book for any photographer to understand the roots of a Master photographer/artist and also the emergence of photography as a true fine art form. It is well worth investing the time to read this book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Too bad not a first-rate production
The photographs are incredible, led by a genius who needs no introduction (although, my purchase was based on a desire to collect more of unheralded Wayne Miller's photos, after encountering his stunning Chicago South Side collection). However, it's really a shame that the print and paper production is so cheap. Somebody should reissue this stuff with an eye toward quality. And if there's a photo historian out there collecting Miller's work for publication, you have a ready customer! Just please go for a quality publishing job. ... Read more