"A Member of the Japanese Delegation"
U.S. Army Signal Corps
American
September 2, 1945
A gelatin silver print portrait documenting a member of the Japanese delegation aboard a U.S. ship on September 2, 1945, intended to record the human presence at the moment of Japan’s formal surrender.
You notice first the officer’s spare, stern face and the ceremonial braided cords on his uniform, sharply foregrounded against a flat, misty sea with a battleship’s blurred silhouette on the horizon, making the shot feel both intimate and geopolitically charged.
By singleing out one figure amid a world-historical moment, the photograph turns abstract diplomacy into a human encounter and helped shape how the end of World War II has been visually remembered through documentary photography.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
9 1/2 × 7 1/2" (24.1 × 19 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2228.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
