"In Honor of the 85th Birthday of a Famous General at the World War"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
January 22, 1935
A gelatin silver print photograph made for news publication, intended to record and publicize a 1935 public commemoration that presents an authoritarian leader and his entourage as a ritual of power.
You’re struck by the central, rigid figure in a military-style uniform with a conspicuous swastika armband leading a procession, the solemn officers and onlookers arranged like actors in a staged tableau while a small child on the steps gives the scene a disquieting everydayness.
As a piece of photojournalism, it shows how 1930s news images helped manufacture political legitimacy—using composition, costume, and circulation to normalize and broadcast authoritarian spectacle to mass audiences.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
7 3/16 × 9 3/8" (18.2 × 23.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2173.2001
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
