Steichen, Continued . . .
The strategies (e.g, spatial, sequencing) employed by Steichen in arranging the exhibit for display reflect his attempt to create a sense of consensus, surrounding the viewer in a welcoming environment. For example, the text accompanying the images was selected from a variety of different sources--e.g., Carl Sandburg, Bertrand Russell--but the passages return to "emotional" themes repreatedly (e.g., children at play, the warmth of the family unit). Moreover, this message contrasts with the ominous presence at the exhibit's center, the possibility of future war and a renewal of destruction. Steichen contextualizes this reality in a didactic fashion, reserving one room for a single image of a hydrogen bomb test (6' x 8', the only color image in the entire collection), a startling gesture. The photographs in the succeeding room, a group of portraits (typically couples), respond to the bomb with defiance, affirming a sense of generative power. In deliberately obscuring the differences among cultures, Steichen chose to aim for the widest possible audience, constructing the exhibit with accessibility in mind.