Nihombashi Takashimaya Presents 'The Family of Man' Photo Exhibition: Reviving a Vision of Human Love and Peace in the Modern Era

What is 'The Family of Man'?

'The Family of Man' is a landmark large-scale photography exhibition that originated at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1955. It was conceived and curated by Edward Steichen (1879–1973), then Director of MoMA's Department of Photography.

The exhibition toured globally, attracting over 9 million visitors. In Japan, it was first held at Nihombashi Takashimaya in 1956. The organizing committee included pioneering Japanese photographer Ihei Kimura and architect Kenzo Tange, who designed the exhibition space—both leading cultural figures of the time. The exhibition later toured over 20 cities across Japan, drawing approximately 1 million visitors and becoming a major social phenomenon. It is now recognized as a milestone in Japanese photographic history.

In his later years, Steichen entrusted 'The Family of Man' to his native Luxembourg. Today, the collection is permanently displayed at Clervaux Castle and has been inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

The vision of love and peace captured by photographers around the world is being revived once again.

Nihombashi Takashimaya exhibition hall bustling with visitors (1956)

Seventy years after 'The Family of Man,' featuring around 500 works by world-renowned photographers such as Robert Capa, W. Eugene Smith, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, was first exhibited in Japan, this iconic exhibition returns in a retrospective format. Approximately 115 works, carefully selected from the original, will be presented to a modern audience.

To commemorate the upcoming 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Luxembourg in 2027, the exhibition will also include new works by Luxembourgish photographers and photojournalists from The Nikkei, responding to the original vision from a contemporary perspective.

Fragments of human life captured across the globe quietly speak to us across time and borders. In today’s world of division and uncertainty, these questions are not relics of the past. The photographs do not speak of history—they speak directly to us, the people living in the present.

Exhibition Overview

【Exhibition Title】'The Family of Man' Photo Exhibition Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of The Nikkei: Reviving a Vision of Human Love and Peace

【Dates and Venue】August 12 (Wed) – August 24 (Mon), 2026 ※Closed on August 19 (Wed)

Nihombashi Takashimaya S.C., Main Building, 8th Floor Hall

【Opening Hours】10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. (Closed at 7:30 p.m.) ※On the final day, until 5:30 p.m. (Closed at 6:00 p.m.)

【Admission Fee】General: ¥1,200; University and high school students: ¥1,000; Junior high school students and younger: Free ※All prices include tax

【Organizer】The Nikkei

【Special Support】National Audiovisual Centre of Luxembourg, Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg, Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Japan

【Sponsors】Epson Marketing, Sigma

【Cooperation】Atelier Matsudaira, Tokugawa Printing, Frameman

【Support】Japan Camera Foundation, Japan Professional Photographers Society, Japan Photographic Society

※For more details, please visit the official website below:

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Exhibition Highlights / Notable Works

Wynn Bullock [Location: USA]

Among the works themed on the beginning of life, the photographs by American artist Wynn Bullock stand out.

Bullock was a leading 20th-century American photographer known for his philosophical and poetic interpretation of nature’s forms and human existence. His renowned work 'Child in Forest' (1951) depicts a child lying deep within a forest, evoking the image of humanity’s innocent life miraculously born on the ancient Earth.

Robert Capa [Location: Czechoslovakia (at the time)]

Among the works focused on lovers, Robert Capa’s photograph is particularly noteworthy.

Though often remembered as a war photographer, Capa captured a wedding scene in the rural Czechoslovakia two years after WWII—a moment of celebration reflecting a different aspect of human life: people liberated from war, beginning new lives together.

Top image: Werner Bischof [Location: India]

Bottom image: Alfred Eisenstaedt [Location: USA]

Among works on motherhood, childhood, and children at play, the images of 'Mother and Child' by Werner Bischof and photographs of children by Alfred Eisenstaedt are especially significant. Bischof’s 'Mother and child in a famine stricken area' (1951), taken in Bihar, India during a famine, directly portrays a mother’s physical strength in supporting her child and the profound bond between them, even under extreme conditions.

Eisenstaedt, renowned for his long career at LIFE magazine, is celebrated for capturing the innocence and collective energy of children in vivid, fleeting moments.

Nina Leen [Location: USA]

At the heart of the exhibition’s family theme are portrait photographs of five families living in the United States, Italy, Sicily, Botswana, and Japan.

Despite differing environments and cultures, their daily lives—raising children together with mutual support and in harmony with the land—reveal the universal strength of family bonds. Steichen’s vision of humanity as one community runs through the entire exhibition, centered on these images.

Notably, Carl Mydans, who photographed the Japanese family, was also the photographer who captured the Japanese Instrument of Surrender signing ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

John Florea [Location: Japan]

Works on justice and human rights question how fairness is maintained in society, depicted through scenes of trials and elections. Included is a photograph of Japan’s first postwar general election. American photographer John Florea visited Japan under Allied occupation in 1946 and captured this historic moment when Japanese women exercised their right to vote for the first time.

Yasukazu Yamamoto [Location: Japan (Nagasaki)]

In works themed on the face of war, the focus shifts from battlefields to the human face of conflict. Yamamoto photographed Nagasaki the day after the atomic bombing on August 10, 1945, meticulously documenting the victims and the devastated cityscape. These photographs, taken in just one day, confront us directly with the brutal reality of nuclear weapons.

W. Eugene Smith [Location: USA]

In the final section of the retrospective, themed on children, we see images of children—both victims of war and symbols of hope for the future.

W. Eugene Smith, severely wounded during WWII, endured a long and painful recovery, hovering between life and death.

His famous work 'The Walk to Paradise Garden' (1946) marks the moment he