Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945
Artist
Joe Rosenthal
(American, 1911 - 2006)
Date1945
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 9 3/16 × 7 5/8 inches (23.34 × 19.37 cm)
Mount: 11 × 11 5/16 inches (27.94 × 28.73 cm)
Mount: 11 × 11 5/16 inches (27.94 × 28.73 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.394
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of uniformed soldiers raising an American flag in a landscape of broken stalks of shrubbery against an overcast sky.Gallery Label
Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer, made this image after American troops took the
island of Iwo Jima in the final months of World War II. The powerful symbolism of this picture— in which victory is achieved through patriotic cooperation—made it an iconic image of the war, reproduced millions of times on magazine covers, recruiting posters and postage stamps.
The somewhat ambiguous circumstances of its making inspired several books and at least one motion picture. In truth, this image was
not staged; Rosenthal recorded the second flagraising on Iwo Jima, when soldiers replaced a hastily erected smaller flag with a larger one. It is the symbolic power of the picture, however, rather than the details of its making, that remains most significant.
island of Iwo Jima in the final months of World War II. The powerful symbolism of this picture— in which victory is achieved through patriotic cooperation—made it an iconic image of the war, reproduced millions of times on magazine covers, recruiting posters and postage stamps.
The somewhat ambiguous circumstances of its making inspired several books and at least one motion picture. In truth, this image was
not staged; Rosenthal recorded the second flagraising on Iwo Jima, when soldiers replaced a hastily erected smaller flag with a larger one. It is the symbolic power of the picture, however, rather than the details of its making, that remains most significant.
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W. Eugene Smith
1945; printed ca. 1955
2017.61.31
62-54
