Title from caption on object: “Nagasaki Wiped Clean by Atomic Bomb”

September 1945

American 20th Century, United States Air Force

Associated Names
American 20th Century

Artist

United States Air Force

Artist

ACME Newspictures

Publisher

The image is an aerial view looking directly down onto a landscape resembling an urban area. There is no clear horizon line visible due to the top-down perspective. The focus of the image is a large rectangular structure towards the upper right corner, surrounded by what appears to be remnants or outlines of buildings and roads. The area shows significant damage with a chaotic array of shapes and lines suggesting destruction. The color palette is monochromatic with shades of black, white, and grey. To the left, the image meets a body of water observed by its darker shade. Several boats or ships are docked along the edge close to the bottom left corner of the image. The top center and right sections display more sporadically distributed smaller shapes that may represent rural or undeveloped land interspersed with patches of greenery.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.3 × 21.4 cm (6 13/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
    sheet: 18.2 × 22.8 cm (7 3/16 × 9 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2018.177.396

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, RMY Auctions, Wilder, ID); Mary and Dan Solomon, Monarch Beach, CA; gift to NGA, 2018.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

on verso, by unknown hand, vertical along left edge in blue ink: U.S. - Wars - W.W.II - Japan - Nagasaki ); center left printed in purple ink on applied paper perpendicular: W 770491. . . . . . . . . . .NEW YORK BUREAU / NAGASAKI WIPED CLEAN BY ATOMIC BOMB / NAGASAKI -- THE ONCE-THRIVING SEAPORT CITY / OF NAGASAKI IS NO MORE. THIS AIRVIEW SHOWS / THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION WROUGHT BY THE / ATOMIC BOMB, DROPPED ON AUG. 9TH. LONE / BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN LEFT STANDING HERE AND / THERE, BUT THE MAJORITY OF THE STRUCTURES / HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY LEVELED. / BU DJH SPL #1 FOR 9/2/45 (MD) / CREDIT (OFFICIAL USAAF PHOTO FROM ACME); center Acme copyright stamp in red ink; by unknown hand, center in graphite inverted: Jap - destruc[tion] / Nagasaki; center right stamped in purple ink: Return to Library

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