Title from caption on object: “An Early Phase of the Nuclear Blast...”

April/May 1951

American 20th Century

Associated Names
American 20th Century

Artist

Associated Press

Publisher

This is a photograph of an atomic explosion over the ocean. The image shows a massive mushroom cloud rising above the water. The cloud has a dense, bulbous top dominating the upper portion of the frame, with a hazy, lighter area around its base that extends outward like a large, flat disk. The ocean is visible below, reflecting light and partially obscured by smoke and debris. Puffy clouds surround the explosion in the sky.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print with applied color

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon

  • Dimensions

    image/sheet: 20.7 × 30.3 cm (8 1/8 × 11 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2018.177.660

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Mary and Dan Solomon, Monarch Beach, CA; gift to NGA, 2018.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

retouching across recto in white and grey paint; on verso, center stamped in green ink on applied newspaper: [?] TIMES; center: JUN 14 1951; across bottom printed in black ink on applied newspaper: [reproduction of image] / AN EARLY PHASE OF THE NUCLEAR BLAST at the spring atomic bomb tests at Eniwetok is shown in this photograph, / released yesterday by the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington. As the force of the blast spread upward and outward, it / took on the appearance of a World War I army helmet—(Wirephoto)

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