Lot 303: Joe Rosenthal, American 1911-2006- ''Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, 1945'', printed by Philip Adam

Joe Rosenthal, American 1911-2006- ''Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, 1945'', printed by Philip Adam; toned archival gelatin silver print, 1989, signed in pencil on verso by Joe Rosenthal, image 21.4x16.4, sheet 25.3x20.3cm, (unframed) Provenance: from the collection of Philip Adam Notes: From 1989 through 1995 Philip Adam was the Laboratory Manager for the Photography Department at the San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper in San Francisco, California. Years after Joe Rosenthal made his famous photograph, Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, 1945, he became a Staff Photographer at the San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper. Philip Adam met Joe Rosenthal in the summer of 1989. Rosenthal was retired then but he often visited his former colleagues in the Photography Department at the Newspaper's main offices at 901 Mission Street. Philip Adam was well known in the Bay Area for being a fine printer of historical film and had worked in many museums in San Francisco preserving historical photographic collections. Shortly after Philip Adam and Joe Rosenthal met, having learned of Adam's printing abilities, Rosenthal asked Adam to print his valuable 4 X 5 negative. Rosenthal had given the picture to veterans over the course of his life, signing them with a ball point pen on the front. The modern versions of these prints were often made on non-archival, resin coated (RC) paper. Prior to the introduction of RC paper, Rosenthal's image was often printed on an inferior substrate known as a stabilisation print. Stabilization prints contain residual chemicals and also are not archival. Adam explained to Rosenthal what is required to make an archival silver print and that he would be honoured to print his negative. This particular print is made on fibre-based paper, selenium toned for permanence and processed according to (ANSI) archival standards. The print, made in 1989 is signed by Joe Rosenthal on the back in pencil per Philip Adam's instructions and is one of the few archival prints that exist from his negative.