AGUTTES
170
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Jewgeni CHALDEJ (1917-1997) The capture of the Reichstag, Be…
See original version (French)
170
-
Jewgeni CHALDEJ (1917-1997) The capture of the Reichstag, Be…
See original version (French)
Estimate €800 - €1,200
Voluntary lot
Description
Jewgeni CHALDEJ (1917-1997)
The capture of the Reichstag, Berlin, circa 1945
Matt silver print, circa 1970, signed on the back, artist's stamp on the reverse
Whole format approximately 38 x 27.5 cm.
Condition: Traces of handling
Provenance :
Galerie David Guiraud, Paris
Acquired from this gallery by the current owner in 2009
Additional information:
Yevgeny Khaldei's most famous photograph shows a Soviet soldier raising the red flag atop the Reichstag in Berlin during the fall of the German capital in May 1945. The image became the symbol of the defeat of the Nazis and the victory of the Red Army, after four years of immense losses for the Soviet Union.
A month earlier, Khaldeï, then aged 28, had come across Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph of the American Marines planting their flag on Iwo Jima. Keen to create an equivalent image for the USSR, he had large red flags made in Moscow and left for Berlin as Soviet victory approached.
However, the scene immortalised is a reconstruction. On the evening of 30 April 1945, the first flag was raised over the Reichstag, but darkness prevented any shots being taken. On 2 May, in an area that was now secure, Khaldeï had three soldiers pose to re-enact the gesture at the top of the building. Soviet propaganda attributed the feat to selected figures, but the men photographed were in fact other soldiers, who would not be officially recognised until much later.
Back in Moscow, Khaldeï submitted his photograph to the Tass agency. It was then that he noticed that one of the soldiers was wearing two watches on his wrist - a compromising detail that could suggest the looting of Berlin. He had the image retouched to remove one of them. Other modifications were later added, notably smoke in the sky, to reinforce the dramatic dimension of this photograph, which has become an icon of the 20th century.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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