Title from caption on object: “Son Watched as Woman Knelt at the Body of Her Husband”

October 1963

Robert Hewett

Associated Names
Robert Hewett

Artist, American, 1913 - 2014

This is a photograph of a street scene with a large portrait and scattered belongings in front of a building with weathered and peeling walls. The image captures a seemingly abandoned or neglected area. There is a large portrait depicting a uniformed figure resting against the building's wall, next to an empty chair. Various articles of fabric or bedding are strewn across the ground. The overall atmosphere conveys a sense of disorder and quiet desolation.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.3 × 23.8 cm (6 13/16 × 9 3/8 in.)
    sheet: 19.1 × 24.2 cm (7 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2018.177.556

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

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

Associated Names

Inscriptions

on verso, by unknown hand, upper left in red ink circled and perpendicular: Viet Nam - Rebellion [crossed out] / Civilians; upper right in graphite circled: Sun Mail / 3x4 1/2 / Diem; center left stamped in blue ink perpendicular: ARTISTS / 1963 NOV 1 PM 6:01; center printed in black ink on applied newspaper: By ROBERT HEWETT / Minneapolis Tribune / Far East Correspondent / CAU MAU, South Viet / Nam -- "You see Commu- / nist guerrilla warfare in its / most vicious for here in / the marshy Mekong River / delta. The Communists have / physically controlled most / of Cau Mau province, out- / side the provincial capital, / for 20 years and their con- / trol is based on frightening / the peasants." / EDITOR'S NOTE: While turmoil took / over the government of South Viet Nam / in Saigon last week, the war in the coun- / try's Mekong River delta and elsewhere / continued. In this story Robert Hewett, / Minneapolis Tribune Far East corres- / pondent, tells about the attacks of Com- / munist Viet Cong guerrillas on two delta / villages.; center left stamped in blue ink perpendicular: ENGRAVING / 1963 NOV 1 PM 6:06; lower center printed in black ink on applied newspaper: SON WATCHED AS WOMAN KNELT AT THE BODY OF HER HUSBAND / In background is propaganda picture of Ngo Dinh Diem; lower right stamped in purple ink on applied newspaper: 4 NOV 3 1963 T; by unknown hand, lower right in graphite perpendicular: 3 col / Diem