4 May 1942 press photo of Winston Churchill at 10 Downing Street w/ H. V. Evatt For Sale

AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS ON MR. CHURCHILL - An original 4 May 1942 Second World War press photograph of British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill, in front of his door at 10 Downing Street, meeting with Australian Foreign Minister H. V. Evatt

Condition: Better than Very Good

This is a 1942 original press photo of Winston S. Churchill and Australian Foreign Minister H.V. Evatt in front of the 10 Downing Street door. The image, featuring both men in three-quarter length with the "10" of Downing Street in the upper center background, is both compelling and symbolic. Evatt, in profile, faces Churchill, papers in hand, seeming to beseech. Churchill, turned toward the camera, looks down and away from Evatt, consonant with the tough news he had for Australia. Evatt's mission was to plead for arms and aid against feared attack and invasion by Japan after the fall of Singapore. Churchill had strong Pacific interests and sympathies, but was nonetheless committed to defeating Germany first, both for the sake of Britain's own practical needs and the insistence of its essential American allies. Churchill could not give Australia all it sought. Nonetheless, Evatt helped secure squadrons of Spitfires to help defend northeastern Australia from Japanese raids.

The gelatin silver print on heavy glossy photo paper measures 9.5 x 7.5 inches. Condition is better than very good with a clean, crisp appearance and only trivial wear, confined to the blank white margins. The verso features the "RECEIVED" ink stamp of "The Daily Telegraph ART DEPARTMENT" dated "6 MAY 1942" - just two days after the image was captured. An original typed caption is affixed to the verso, titled "AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS ON MR. CHURCHILL" and reads, in full, "Australia’s Foreign Minister, who arrived from America by plane last night, today called on the Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street. Photo shows: - Mr. Churchill greets Dr. H.V. Evatt at Downing Street. P.N.A. 4th”". Likely the 4th refers to the date, but there is a small loss to the foot of the caption, which is also wrinkled and torn. The image is protected within a clear, removable, rigid sleeve.

This press photo once belonged to a newspaper’s working archive. During the first half of the twentieth century, photojournalism grew as a practice, fundamentally changing the way the public interacted with current events. Newspapers assembled expansive archives, including physical copies of all photographs published or deemed useful for potential future use, their versos typically marked with ink stamps and notes providing provenance and captions. Photo departments would often take brush, paint, pencil, and marker to the surface of photographs themselves to edit them before publication. Today these photographs exist as repositories of historical memory, technological artifacts, and often striking pieces of vernacular art.

Ref #: 005300
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