![[German raid over the Kremlin, Moscow]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84175/preview)
[German raid over the Kremlin, Moscow]
Artist
Margaret Bourke-White
(American, 1904–1971)
Date1941 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 15 1/4 x 19 5/16 in. (38.7 x 49 cm)
Mount (matted): 22 1/16 × 27 15/16 in. (56 × 71 cm)
Mount (matted): 22 1/16 × 27 15/16 in. (56 × 71 cm)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of the artist, Class of 1927, and LIFE Magazine
Terms
- Photographs
- Gelatin silver prints
Object number65.641
Label CopyAs the Germans advanced on Moscow, Bourke-White faced a Soviet warning that anyone caught with a camera would be shot, along with a U.S. government advisory asking Americans to leave the city. Determined nevertheless to cover the conflict, she eventually obtained permission from the Soviets to take preapproved pictures. She and Erskine Caldwell, her husband, both ignored American warnings to evacuate. This photograph was taken from the roof of the American embassy in Moscow as the first bombs fell. With long exposures, Bourke-White managed to capture exploding shells with the spires of the Kremlin illuminated. This picture ran as part of LIFE’s lead story in September 1941—the first images Americans saw of the Moscow bombing. ("Margaret Bourke-White: From Cornell Student to Visionary Photojournalist," curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 - June 7, 2015)
Collections
![[Shepherd watching over sheep milling around remains of destroyed German aircraft after Allied Forces raid, Leipzig, Germany]](/internal/media/dispatcher/112089/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1945 (negative); 1979 (print)
Margaret Bourke-White
1931-32 (negative); 1934 (print)
![[Gate that contains the Kremlin Post Office, Russia]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93621/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1931-32 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
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