Lot 86: JOE ROSENTHAL, RAISING THE FLAG ON IWO JIMA

JOE ROSENTHAL, RAISING THE FLAG ON IWO JIMA. 9 5/8 x 7 5/8- inch brown-toned matte gelatin silver print. There are numerous press print and exhibition prints of this iconic photograph, from the February 1945 date of the event up to the present. There is a light credit stamp verso from "Press Association, Inc." There are no date stamps or other markings to indicate that it was ever used for publication. This iconic image has been cropped from a wider scene in the original negative, as are most prints. What is interesting here is that this print shows more of the grass and rubble at the very bottom, and a little more at the side margins than is usually present. Many details are also richer and thus clearer than early press press prints I've compared it with, as well as with large exhibition prints signed by Rosenthal. There is recently an increased interest in the chronological early life of iconic press photographs. This print is vintage from the 1940's, and may have been printed from the original negative or a source close to it, while most vintage wire prints and other later prints were copied or printed from sources that had lost some detail.

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