Edward Steichen & The Family Of Man, 70 Years On, 16/05/2025 RTL Today

Content provided by RTL Luxembourg and RTL - Lisa Burke. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by RTL Luxembourg and RTL - Lisa Burke or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

RTL Today - The Lisa Burke Show »
Edward Steichen & The Family of Man, 70 years on, 16/05/2025

2d ago 57:52

MP3•Episode home

"The people in the audience looked at the pictures, and the people in the pictures looked back at them. They recognised each other."
Edward Steichen
Eurovision Mania & World News
After a late night commentating, Meredith Moss comes onto my show this week to talk about the second semi-final, featuring Luxembourg’s very own Laura Thorn, who made it through to the finals, to be held on Saturday 17th May in Basel.
Sasha Kehoe keeps us abreast of the week’s news, which is unceasingly heavy. From Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, to UN relief chief Tom Fletcher’s scathing account of Israel’s denial of life-saving supplies to be allowed entry into Gaza for over ten weeks, thereby leading to starvation. We also talk about Trump’s trip to the Middle East, where the Qatari President gave him a gift of a new Air Force One.
In Luxembourg news this week, Prime Minister Luc Frieden announced that Luxembourg will increase its defending spending from €800 million to €1.2 billion by the end of 2025, five years earlier than originally planned. He also unveiled changes to the pension retirement age.
Family of Man - Edward Steichen
The CNA, Centre National de l’audovisuel International Symposium 2025, will celebrate 70 Years of The Family of Man at Clervaux Castle on Saturday May 24 2025.
To talk about the life of Edward Steichen, and the legacy of The Family of Man exhibition, I’m joined by:
Claire di Felice, curator and Head of the Steichen Collections at the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA) in Luxembourg.
Gerd Hurm, Professor emeritus of American Literature and Culture at the University of Trier, founding director of the Trier Center for American Studies (TCAS), and advisory board member of the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He is co-editor of The Family of Man Revisited: Photography in a Global Age and author of a widely acclaimed 2019 biography on Steichen.
Emilia Sánchez González is a PhD researcher at the University of Luxembourg’s Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), working on a new transmedia project - FoMLEG (The Legacy of The Family of Man), exploring its international tour during the Cold War (1955–1963) and its history in Luxembourg since 1965.
Edward Steichen - photographer curator
In 1955, a visionary Luxembourg-American photographer changed the language of photography and its audience. Edward Steichen, then director of photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), unveiled The Family of Man - an exhibition of 503 black-and-white photographs from 68 countries, curated to tell the story of humanity in all its raw, real, and radiant yet connected beauty. Seven decades later, this exhibition lives on at Clervaux Castle and the story it tells still resonates with global audiences of all ages.
A Living Exhibition
The Family of Man was revolutionary in 1955 as one of the world’s first immersive photo exhibitions, not just displaying images, but using scenography, the visual rhythm and space between photos.
“You become the film director of your own human experience”, explained Professor Hurm.
The intention was to remind a post-war world that despite borders and ideologies, we have, first and foremost, a shared humanity and a shared earth. It was as much political as it was poetic.
“Steichen understood that the medium of photography could be a tool for peace,” Hurm added. “It was democratic, emotional, and immediate.”
Home in Luxembourg
For Claire di Felice it’s about stewardship. Her role is not just about preserving the work but reactivating it, making it speak again. Having initially studied law, Claire returned to her artistic roots to work alongside her father, renowned curator Paul di Felice. Together they co-founded MAI Photographie, a publishing house for limited-edition artist books. “It’s strange,” she smiled, “how you try to leave a path and still end up on it.”
The Global South’s Forgotten Story
Emilia Sánchez González is helping to complete the narrative that The Family of Man began. As part of the FNR-funded FoMLEG project (The Legacy of The Family of Man), she is tracking the exhibition’s global tour from 1955–1963, with a special focus on its journey through the Global South — Latin America, Africa, Asia — regions often omitted in Cold War history.
“We realised we were missing half the story,” said Emilia. “In Calcutta alone, 29,000 people saw the exhibition in one day. That matters. Their perspectives matter.” Her work highlights active audiences, which is what we all are when we pass through such a curated visual storytelling.
Education Through Empathy
A major part of the CNA’s 70th anniversary programming is educational. With crises of war, displacement, and division growing, The Family of Man offers a visual gateway into empathy-based learning. “We’ve launched a children’s audioguide created by children,” Claire shared, “as well as a platform of activities for schools. The aim is to let children interpret and relate to the images on their own terms.” This is visual storytelling not just for passive viewing, but for active engagement. And it’s working.
Edward Steichen’s Legacy remains relevant
As Professor Hurm’s student recently commented, the photos are all in black and white, but they have so much colour. The themes of our lives remain the same. We still see our faces in those who lived and walked this earth 70 years ago.
https://eurovision.tv/participant/laura-thorn-2025
https://cna.public.lu/fr.html
https://www.uni-trier.de/index.php?id=64580

100 episodes

#Society #Luxembourg #RTL Luxembourg #RTL - Lisa Burke