Skip to main content

Signed photo of 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' offered at Heritage Auctions


This rare signed copy of Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is expected to fetch up to $25,000 at Heritage Auctions' Photographs Auction on October 4 in New York. The print has four signatures: three by the only three soldiers in the picture who survived the battle, and one by photographer Joe Rosenthal. The photo was originally owned by artist Felix de Weldon, who used it as his basis for the massive sculpture for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

Heritage Auctions tells more about this iconic image:

"On February 23, 1945 there were two American flag raisings on the top of Mount Suribachi. The first flag was hoisted about 10:30 am. It was decided that the first flag was too small and that a second larger flag should be upraised. Around noon the second flag was uplifted and Rosenthal took this Pulitzer Prize winning photograph. There were six flag-raisers originally identified in the photograph - Ira Hayes, Michael Strank, Franklin Sousley, Rene Gagnon, John Bradley and Harlon Block - only Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley survived the battle.

The impact of this photograph at the time cannot be underestimated. The three surviving second flag-raisers, Bradley, Gagnon, and Hayes, met President Truman on April 20, 1945 at the White House and were enlisted to go on the Seventh War Loan Drive to raise money for the war effort."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Print out and fold your own paper cameras

Totally want to make some of these Olympus mirrorless cameras with my daughter this weekend. They don't take pictures, but they sure would make my little girl very happy. The Japanese company has a webpage for kids , and you can easily create three-dimensional paper models of the OM-D or the PEN Lite by printing and folding those PDF templates in the papercraft section . Enjoy! [h/t: Pop Photo ]

Simon Beck creates giant 'Game of Thrones' snow mural

It's been a few months since I last checked in on Simon Beck (previously here ), who specializes in making ornate snow murals with just his snowshoes. Recently the British artist was commissioned by Sky Atlantic to create a promotional art for Game of Thrones : a massive direwolf symbol the size of two and a half football pitches. According to Digital Spy , it took Simon 13 hours, 64,800 steps, and 32.5 kilometers to complete the artwork, which is the sigil of the House Stark of Winterfell. The result is mind blowing.

Stone horsemen invade River Thames

It's not uncommon to see huge art installations on River Thames: a giant fiberglass sperm whale , a floating house , a massive wooden hippo . If you happen to be in London, head down to Nine Elms, on the south bank of the waterway, any day this month, and — if it's a low tide — you'll see a group of stone horsemen by world-renowned underwater sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor , rising above the riverside beach. The artwork, titled The Rising Tide , is part of the Totally Thames arts festival and is the first of its kind to be installed in the famed river. Four three-meter tall working horses with riders are shown — two of the riders are businessmen and two are children — though horse heads have been replaced with oil pumps. The sculptures are on display until the end of September.