What are some images from war/wartime that are noteworthy/interesting?
February 25, 2016 11:47 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for war-related/wartime images (photographs/graphics/poster/comics...etc except films) from the 20th/21st century that are somehow particularly noteworthy, iconic, unusual, or interesting.

They don't need to be from any particular/specific war (although I guess I'm looking within the time period of World War I to present-day). If I had to pick a geographic region, I'm especially interested in East Asia / Southeast Asia-related war/wartime images, but I'm open to images from other geographic regions.

Do any particular images come to mind? Or would you be able to recommend places I could look online (any internet archives, or articles)?

Thank you!
posted by aielen to Media & Arts (16 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Nick Ut's photograph of a little girl burned by napalm in Vietnam (violence, nudity) immediately comes to mind.
posted by hollyholly at 11:52 AM on February 25, 2016


"The War Photo No One Would Publish" article on The Atlantic with accompanying photo plus a couple extra (MeFi post)
posted by ODiV at 12:05 PM on February 25, 2016


The Dogma Collection is a gallery that collects propaganda art from Vietnam created by Vietnamese artists. The collection is amazing.

And I would look at Otto Dix's WW1 prints which are some of the most graphic and true representations of war.
posted by brookeb at 12:08 PM on February 25, 2016


Tank Man at Tiananmen Square.
General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon.
posted by jabes at 12:19 PM on February 25, 2016


Google images hosts a searchable archive of images from LIFE magazine, some of which are more iconic than others. It'd be a good place to search through.

The archive homepage

Search keyword "war"
posted by Wretch729 at 12:20 PM on February 25, 2016


Lord Kitchener Wants You (for WWI).
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:08 PM on February 25, 2016


Not photojournalism, and not strictly speaking a war, but Keith Haring's Free South Africa is a powerful statement against oppression.
posted by workerant at 1:19 PM on February 25, 2016


Google Frank Hurley, WW1 photos

This
from the Spanish Civil War is iconic

For Asia, the 1904 battle of Port Arthur (Russia v Japan) has some surprising images.

posted by IndigoJones at 1:32 PM on February 25, 2016


The Vietnam War Collection
Associated Press Vietnam The Real War
Lafayette College East Asia Image Collection
posted by Ideefixe at 1:48 PM on February 25, 2016


Also, Visualizing China
posted by Ideefixe at 1:50 PM on February 25, 2016


Raising a flag over the Reichstag is really impressive and iconic.

Magnum has a huge archive; this is a link filtering for war, armed conflict, iconic, and photos.

It can be really hard to find this kind of stuff on the internet (especially unusual images). I would go to the nearest BIG library. Get a librarian to help you find the section on war photography, grab each book that looks like it might be interesting and flip through them. If you find a photographer online that you really like, find the section on their work in the library, and flip through their books.
posted by gregr at 1:57 PM on February 25, 2016


Reverse shadows of the vapourised in Hiroshima

The rest of that site is probably worth a look too.
posted by pompomtom at 4:28 PM on February 25, 2016


From Venezuela: Aid From The Padre by Hector Rondón Lovera.

From Iraq: Little Girl by Michael Yon.
posted by Fukiyama at 6:59 PM on February 25, 2016




Bloody Saturday
posted by twoporedomain at 9:08 AM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


For East Asia and war photography Felice Beato a 19th century photographer is really fundamental to all that followed. He shot British and American conflicts from Singapore to Korea, Samurai, Asian tattoos, and some of the first panoramas. The Getty Museum had some of his prints the last time I was there. His work is extraordinary.
posted by ridgerunner at 2:38 PM on February 26, 2016


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