Estimate: € 7.000–8.000

Gelatin silver print, printed in 1984

21,6 x 16,6 cm

Signed by the photographer in ink on the reverse

PROVENANCE acquired in 1985 from the Andrew Smith Gallery, Sante Fe by the grandparent of current owner

For the United States of America, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima has become a symbol of eternal victory. On February 19, 1945, US Marines landed on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, a Japanese military fortification at the time. Four days later, Rosenthal, who had been dispatched by the Associated Press to cover the Marines’ operations in the Pacific, noticed on his daily reconnaissance that a group of soldiers had gone to hoist the American stars and stripes atop Mount Suribachi. He followed them but came too late. A second group of Marines was about to hoist a second, much larger flag attached to a long steel pipe. 34-year-old Joe Rosenthal took his Speed Graphic and created one of the most famous war photographs of all time. A few hours later, the photo was developed and cabled to the AP’soffices in New York. Seventeen hours later, it was on the covers of many newspapers. The photograph instantly became an icon and won the Pulitzer Prize the same year. In contrast to most other existing versions of this picture, the print presented here is not a wire press photo, but an signed print from the original negative.

Start price: €3.800