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Max Desfor (November 8, 1913 – February 19, 2018) was an American photographer who received the
A year later, Desfor was working for the AP in
Guide to the Max Desfor Photographs and Papers 1936-2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desfor, Max 1913 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American photographers People from the Bronx Photographers from the Bronx American centenarians Men centenarians American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Associated Press photographers New Utrecht High School alumni Brooklyn College alumni Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners War photographers Burials at New Montefiore Cemetery
Max Desfor (November 8, 1913 – February 19, 2018) was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for his Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
photograph, '' Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge in Korea'', depicting Pyongyang
Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...
residents and refugees crawling over a destroyed bridge across the Taedong River
The Taedong River (Chosŏn'gŭl: ) is a large river in North Korea. The river rises in the Rangrim Mountains of the country's north where it then flows southwest into Korea Bay at Namp'o.Suh, Dae-Sook (1987) "North Korea in 1986: Strengthening ...
to escape the advancing Chinese Communist troops.
Background
Desfor was born on November 8, 1913, inThe Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, the son of Jewish emigrants, his father from Russia and his mother from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After graduating New Utrecht High School
New Utrecht High School is a state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Educat ...
, he attended Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
for only a year then quit. He began working as a messenger with the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
(AP), where his brother was a photo retoucher. Desfor taught himself photography basics and was hired as a staff photographer in 1938. Initially based in Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, he moved to the Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, bureau a year later.
Career
Soon after the United States enteredWorld War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Desfor tried to enlist in the Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
but was denied because of his age and his being his family's sole source of income. He then became a wire service war photographer assigned to the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's Pacific fleet. In August 1945, Desfor photographed the ''Enola Gay
The ''Enola Gay'' () is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets. On 6 August 1945, piloted by Tibbets and Robert A. Lewis during the final stages of World War II, it be ...
'' crew upon their Saipan
Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...
landing after dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
. He was also present to photograph Japan's official surrender aboard the on September 2, 1945.
A year later, Desfor was working for the AP in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and photographed Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
and Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
attending an All India Congress Committee
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...
meeting. Following Gandhi's assassination in 1948, Desfor covered the funeral.
In 1950, covering the Korean War for the AP, he took the photograph that would earn him the Pulitzer Prize, ''Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge in Korea''. "All of these people who are literally crawling through these broken-down girders of the bridge," he said, "they were in and out of it, on top, underneath, and just barely escaping the freezing water."
Desfor later became supervising editor of the AP's photo service and returned to Asia in 1968 as regional photo chief. He retired from the AP in 1978, then moved to the DC area to join the '' U.S. News & World Report'' as photo director. He retired six years later.
Personal life
Desfor was married to Clara Mehl from 1936 until her death in 1994 from injuries sustained in a car accident. In 2012, at age 98, he married Shirley Belasco. Desfor died at hisSilver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...
, home on February 19, 2018, at age 104. His survivors include a son from his first marriage.
References
External links
Guide to the Max Desfor Photographs and Papers 1936-2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desfor, Max 1913 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American photographers People from the Bronx Photographers from the Bronx American centenarians Men centenarians American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Associated Press photographers New Utrecht High School alumni Brooklyn College alumni Pulitzer Prize for Photography winners War photographers Burials at New Montefiore Cemetery