Title from caption on object: “This Was Man’s First View of His Most Awesome Invention...”

July 16, 1945

Berlyn Brixner

Associated Names
Berlyn Brixner

Artist, American, 1911 - 2009

ACME Newspictures

Publisher

This is an image of an atomic explosion. The photograph shows the bright flash and smoke of the explosion, with a large white spherical shape dominating the upper portion of the image. The explosion illuminates the area, creating contrast between the glow and the darker foreground, where the silhouette of smoke is visible. The caption at the bottom of the photograph states that this is the first atomic bomb explosion at a U.S. Army base in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon

  • Dimensions

    image: 16.8 × 20.5 cm (6 5/8 × 8 1/16 in.)
    sheet: 18.1 × 22.9 cm (7 1/8 × 9 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2018.177.385

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Henry Yee, Ebay.com); Mary and Dan Solomon, Monarch Beach, CA; gift to NGA, 2018.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

across bottom printed in image: NY401-8/17-This was man's first view of his most awesome invention - the / explosion of the first atomic bomb July 16 at remote U.S. Army base at / Alamogordo, N. Mex., as seen by scientists and Army officials six miles / distant. The photo, made with automatic movie camera, shows the blinding / flash that lighted the area brighter than sunlight, with smoke billowing / up over wide area. Circle lower right is reflection on camera lens. USAPhot[o]; on verso, by unknown hand, upper center in graphite: atomic; center left in graphite: 3 col; center right Acme copyright stamp in green ink inverted; by unknown hand, lower left in graphite inverted: Bombs / Atomic Bombs

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