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A CONTROVERSIAL WAR photography at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, features more than 480 photographs and other documents from wars, dating back to 1887.
After a three-month exhibit with stops in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath will close this weekend but it has left an indelible mark on those that have visited.
“In the news and magazines, people don’t show us what’s really going on,” says Ann Wilkes Tucker, who curated the show with Will Michels. “We felt that if the soldiers have to see it and if the journalists have to see it, we have to see it.”
Although a disturbing experience for most, reactions to the exhibition have been mostly positive. Phillip Kennicott at The Washington Post called it “wrenching and horrifying”, while Vince Aletti at The New Yorker found it “tough and unflinching”.
Some reviewers, however, objected to the overwhelming size and structure of the exhibit, which is jam-packed and arranged thematically, with images of World War II appearing next to images of Afghanistan or Rwanda. The effect, according to Ken Johnson of The New York Times, is “mind-numbing” and “flawed”.
One way or another, it’s a powerful experience. With permission from the Brooklyn Museum (which was extended to TheJournal.ie), Business Insider published this selection of the photos.
Source: Josiah Barnes/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Max Alpert/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Max Alpert/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Dmitri Baltermants/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Alfred Palmer/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Cecil Beaton/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Arkady Shaikhet/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Warrant Photographer Jess W. January/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/war-photography-images-of-armed-conflict-and-its-aftermath-photos-2013-10?op=1#ixzz2s01oZkC6" title="">
Source: Joe Rosenthal/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Henri Huet/Courtesy Of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Marc Riboud/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Philip Jones Griffiths/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Thomas Hoepker/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Micha Bar-Am/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Susan Meiselas/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Nhem Ein" title="">
Source: Joel Sternfeld/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Jan Grarup/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Rachel Papo/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Peter van Agtmael/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
Source: Louie Palu/Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum" title="">
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‘Napalm girl’ is the most unforgettable one I’ve seen.A haunting image.
There’s also a famous image of General Nguyen Ngọc Loan about to execute a suspected VC captive in Saigon that freaks me right out.
The picture is in mid execution no about about it!
I saw an article based in the recently. The guy he was exacting had murdered some of his family members which might have included his wife. Revenge and this guy deserved it if the story is true
As far as I recall, the iwojima photo was posed. It happened & the photographer saw it but was too slow to take the picture so he asked them to take it down & recreate it.
That’s right and one of them was a man named Ira Hayes. After the war he was hailed a national hero but battled with alcoholism until his early death. Sad really. Johnny Cash wrote ‘The Ballad of Ira Hayes’ about him.
The photo wasn’t posed – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima
Peter le Farge!
It wasn’t post, it was the second flag raising on the Island, it was also filmed and clearly shows it was not posed.
//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima_(color).ogg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima#Publication_and_staging_confusion
yeah like they are going to admit one of the most iconic images in american history was a fake,great source though wikipedia !!! and filming something does not mean its staged,have you ever watched a FILM ????
How is the photo fake exactly? The photo was taken during the second raising of a flag on the mountain. The original video footage clearly shows the flag raising – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHe9gCgQsos
Just because cameramen were present doesn’t make it fake. It happened!
I asked my grandfather years ago before he died as he had been a navy cheif at iwo Jima,and had been present at the day when this event happened.Albeit offshore on a destroyer. His attitude was about the picture,no one really gave a flying who was there or raised it or when or how.They were all just very glad it was up on the top of that rock.
Sewing machine guy is hooooooot
You took that from all of the pictures? Well done yoi
For me I think is was a Vietnam war photo. A naked child running after clothes burnt off from napalm strike.
Not on lost but true reflection of horrors of war.
I also remember another s young Jewish boy staring at dug grave with all his family in it dead. As he stands an SS officer has a pistol to his head. So much evil has been done in this world
Jaysus I thought the severe reprimands in the face only happened in the movies.
Bit one sided. I did not see any photos from the german and Japanese view
I’m sure you can Google for NAZI or Imperial Japanese war photos without difficulty.
Though I’m not sure how fond either were of picturing the death camps they had in China & Eastern Europe.
These are mild in fairness. War is hell.
You just cant have the best war photos and not mention Robert Capa
http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?ERID=24KL535353&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&VP3=CMS3
Yes the few photos that survived his brief visit to Omaha beach are amazing.
Amazing that such beautiful art can come from horrors like that. Look a those Australian boys off to the far side of the World full of a sense of adventure and smiling. I doubt I’d have the cajones to do that. Different World.
Emmet, with conscription, often it was Hobson’s choice. The biggest crime of WW1 in my opinion was the callous calculation by governments, who each thought the other side would run out of men’s first, a calculation based on the relative populations of the countries involved. They men were literally canon fodder.
Typical prestitute captioning. The photos of Israelis portray ‘brave’ or fun loving people all lined up smiling buying a bottle of coke. Palestinians as usual are demonised. Some of my friends are photo journalists and they have been refused entrance, had their equipment destroyed and have been shot at by the IDF and most of their images never see the light of day. Sometimes Haaretz or the Guardian will pick them up.
Come on people, ‘napalm girl’… Kim Phuc, is the woman in that horrific photograph taken by Nick Ut. It wouldn’t have taken a minute to Google the image and find out her name.
I could remember approx 10 of them now and by tomorrow maybe 5
It’s a world of trouble at times…
Where is the photo of Enda and Eamonn fighting for the Irish people ??
What? Are we at war?
The Americans raising the flag is one of the most memorable. The others are not, they are just everyday war pics. Unfortunately the most memorable photos are the hoffic images, they leave a stain on obes memory for a long time.
The flag image is staged, they had put up a smaller flag the day before but re shot it here. For that very reason it pales in comparison to most of the others!
You appear to have contradicted yourself there
There are no horrific images out of that bunch of photos. The raising of the flag is seen as a victory therefore more memorable. It also gives some a feeling of pride. People recall photos and the feelings attached to them. The one who sees a hot guy ironing will recall that image longer as they have an emotional connection.
I would recall of hand the naplam girl (like many people would a naked crying girl running away frim something truely horrific) and a photo of a men in a concentration camp all skin and bone pressed up against the fence. Hands gripping the fence.I can recall images of trench warfare and fields of white crosses. All of which I would have an emotional connection.
Fair point.
isnt the whole point of war pictures that they are real and capture the horror of war in a pure,unguarded moment and not some photogenic,contrived piece of propaganda !! if you are looking for great propaganda pictures then fine the one of iwo jima is fairly decent but to me it cheapens the whole concept of war photography
Here’s one from the Shinners at war: http://www.google.ie/search?q=la+mon+hotel+bomb&client=safari&hl=en-gb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=e03tUv-KNKud7Qb4jIGIBQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAA&biw=768&bih=928&dpr=1#biv=i%7C1%3Bd%7CobumlfxD9-ANjM%3A
went to this exhibition today in the RHA by Irish artist Richard Mosse – Photography and an amazing film taken from his time in the Congo in 2012. He used special film being made by kodak used to pic out camouflage in the jungle – worth a look
I think he just used infrared film. I seen some of them. Very good
the flag raising in iwo jima was staged so i dont think thats really too valid
Don McCullin. The greatest war photographer of them all.
The Iwo Jima pic was staged for PR. Shouldn’t be included. Napalm girl most memorable by far. All modern wars provoked and manipulated by the banksters who own the military industrial complex. Their puppets like Obama Clinton’s Bushes (majority of congress actually) have sold their souls for dollars.
Bloody hell.you got red thumbed for that comment. The truth certainly hurts! Jeez are people that dumb
Brave men, who shall never be forgotten.
There was the World Press Photography exhibition onin the CHQ building not long ago, some of the images there were brutal and bloody, but isn’t that what photojournalism is about?
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