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1948Middle East
 
State of Israel formed 
1941North America - USA
 

 
Walker Evans, 1941, Book cover for Walker Evans "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. three Tenant Families. Text by James Agee" (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941), Book cover, Christie's - New York, LL/28387
Walker Evans and James Agee publish Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Three Tenant Families (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941).
1941North America - USA
 

 
Unidentified photographer / artist, 1941, 7 December, USS Shaw (DD-373) exploding during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, National Archives and Records Administration, LL/6598
Pearl Harbor 
1942North America - USA
 
Edward Hopper paints Nighthawks 
1943North America - USA
 
The film Casablanca is released. 
1943Europe - Poland
 
Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto 
1943North America - USA
 
Weegee (Arthur Fellig) takes his famous photograph The Critic outside the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Published in LIFE magazine on 6 December 1943 it pushes his career forward.
1944Europe - France
 

 
Robert Capa, 1944, 6 June, D-Day, Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944, Gelatin silver print, Peter Fetterman Gallery, LL/441
Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) 
1944Europe - France
 

 
Robert Capa, 1944, 6 June (taken) 2007 (publication), The first wave of American troops landing on D-Day, Omaha Beach, Normandy coast, France; June 6, 1944, [Magnum Founders], Platinum print, bound into a book, Verso Limited Editions, LL/28598
During the Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) Robert Capa photographs the landings at Omaha Beach. He exposes 106 frames of the heavily laden troops at they struggle past the steel landing craft obstructions before wading to an LCI (landing craft, infantry) to return to England with the first photographs of the invasion. All but eleven blurry images remain after the films are overheated when drying.
1945Europe - Great Britain
 
George Orwell publishes Animal Farm
1945North America - USA
 

 
Alexey Brodovitch, 1945, Book cover for Alexey Brodovitch "Ballet" (New York: J.J. Augustin, 1945), Book cover, Christie's - New York, LL/28389
Alexey Brodovitch publishes Ballet (New York: J.J. Augustin, 1945).
1945North America - USA
 

 
André Kertész, 1945, Book cover for André Kertész "Day of Paris" (New York: J.J. Augustin, 1945), Book cover, Private collection, LL/28336
André Kertész publishes Day of Paris.
1945Europe - Czechoslovakia
 

 
Jindrich Styrsky, 1945, Book cover for Jindrich Styrsky "Na jehlßch techto dni -- On the Needles of These Days. Text by Jindrich Heisler, design by Karel Teige" (Prague: F.R. Borovy, 1945), Book cover, Christie's - New York, LL/28390
Jindrich Styrsky and Jindrich Heisler publish Na jehlach techto dni [On the Needles of these Days].
1945North America - USA
 

 
Weegee, 1945, Book cover for Weegee "Naked City" (New York: Essential Books), Book cover, Christie's - London, LL/44742
Weegee (Arthur Fellig) publishes Naked City.
1945Asia - Japan
 

 
Unidentified photographer, 1945, Nakasaki Mushroom Cloud, Gelatin silver print, Klotz / Sirmon Gallery (CLOSED), LL/3441
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in Japan. The tail gunner of the Enola Gay, Sgt. George R. Caron, took a roll of film of the detonation. 
1945Global
 
The United Nations Charter is ratified. 
1945Asia - Iwo Jima
 

 
Joe Rosenthal, 1945, 23 Febuary (taken), The flag raising on Iwo Jima, "Soundphotos" (wire photos), Larry Gottheim, Be-hold, Inc, LL/11467
Joe Rosenthal takes the photograph of the Flag raising on Iwo Jima showing six marines putting up a large flag on Mount Suribachi. It quickly becomes one of the iconic American war photographs.
 
A feature film Flags of Our Fathers (2006) , directed by Clint Eastwood, retells the story.
1945North America - USA
 

 
Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1945, VJ Day in Times Square, Gelatin silver print, Klotz / Sirmon Gallery (CLOSED), LL/3325
V-J Day ended the hostilities of the Second World War and was a time of celebrations for the Allies. The photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt catches the atmosphere of the occasion when anybody could kiss anybody and get away with it. The photograph is fascinating because of the numbers of people who claimed to be the sailor or the nurse involved to learn more about it go to http://time.com/3517476/v-j-day-1945-a-nation-lets-loose/
1945Asia - Japan
 

 
New York Times Staff Photographer, 1945, Gen. McArthur Signing the Surrender Document on Board the USS Missouri, Tokyo, Gelatin silver print, Fahey / Klein Gallery, LL/4881
General McArthur accepted the surrender of the Empire of Japan on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. 
1945Europe - Germany
 

 
Yevgeny Khaldei, 1945, 2 May, Soldiers raising the flag of Soviet Union on the roof of Reichstag building in Berlin, Gelatin silver print, Creative Commons - Wikipedia, LL/39668
Yevgeny Khaldei photographs the placing of a Soviet flag on the Reichstag in Berlin showing that the European phase of the Second World War is nearly over.
1945North America - USA
 
LIFE in the USA runs the Holocaust photographs taken at Buchenwald in April 1945 by Lee Miller with the statement "Dead men will have indeed died in vain if live men refuse to look at them."
1945Asia - Japan
 

 
Yosuke Yamahata, 1945, 10 August, A-Bomb Terror in Nagasaki, Japan, Black and white photograph, United Nations Photo, LL/43061
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in Japan. 
1946North America - USA
 
Wright Morris publishes The Inhabitants.
1946Europe - Czechoslovakia
 

 
Zdenek Tmej, 1946, Book cover for Zdenek Tmej, 1946, Abeceda: Dusevniho prßzdna [Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness], Book cover, Swann Galleries - New York, LL/15975
Zdenek Tmej publishes Abeceda: Duševního Prázdna [Alphabet of Spiritual Emptiness]
1946Europe - Greece
 
Greek Civil War 
1946North America - USA
 
Alfred Stieglitz dies. His role in placing photography amongst the arts and in influencing its direction in the late 19th century and in the first twenty years of the 20th is difficult to overstate.
1947North America - USA
 

 
Robert Capa, 1947, Book cover for Robert Capa "Slightly Out of Focus" (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1947), Book cover, Private collection, LL/20765
Robert Capa publishes Slightly Out of Focus.
1947North America - USA
 

 
Edward Weston, 1947, Book cover for "Edward Weston: 50 Photographs" (New York: Duell Sloan & Pearce Publishers), Book cover, Swann Galleries - New York, LL/15976
Edward Weston publishes Fifty Photographs.
1947Europe - France
 
The Magnum photo agency is founded. 
1947Asia - India / Pakistan
 
India gains its independence from Britain and Pakistan is created. The ethnic and religious divisions within the new countries result in mass migrations and terrible bloodshed. 
1948North America - USA
 
The Marshall Plan is passed by the U.S. Congress to rebuild a war devastated Europe. 
1948North America - USA
 
Edwin Land introduces the Polaroid camera
1948North America - USA
 

 
W. Eugene Smith, 1948, 20 September, Country Dr. Ernest Ceriani wiping the eye of 2 1/2-year-old girl whose head he has just stitched up after she was kicked in the head by a horse, in emergency room at hospital., [Country Doctor], Gelatin silver print, LIFE, LL/32206
W. Eugene Smith publishes his photo-essay Country Doctor in LIFE magazine in the USA.
1948Europe - Denmark
 

 
Keld Helmer-Petersen, 1948, Book cover for Keld Helmer-Petersen "122 Colour Photographs" (Copenhagen: Schoenberg, 1948), Book cover, Christie's - New York, LL/28391
The Danish photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen self-publishes 122 Colour Photographs Copenhagen: Schoenberg, 1948) which embraces the Modernist style and the use of color. This is one of the first books to use color photography effectively.
1949North America - USA
 
Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman opens. 
1949Europe - France
 

 
Robert Doisneau, 1949, Book cover for Robert Doisneau & Blaise Cendrars (text) "La Banlieue de Paris" (Paris: Pierre Seghers Editeur, 1949), Book cover, Ader Nordmann, LL/43362
Robert Doisneau and Blaise Cendrars publish La Banlieue de Paris.
1949Asia - China
 
Communist People's Republic established (China) 
1949Europe - France
 

 
Jean Manzon, 1952, 12 January, Front cover for "Paris Match" No. 147, Magazine cover, Private collection, LL/13322
Paris Match is founded as a quality weekly using extensive photo-reportage. 
1950Asia - Korea
 
Korean War 
1951North America - USA
 
The nuclear spies Julius (1918-1953) and Ethel (1915-1953) Rosenberg are executed. 
1951North America - USA
 
J. D. Salinger publishes The Catcher in the Rye 
1951Europe - Great Britain
 
The Festival of Britain is held to mark to centennial of the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
1951Africa - Southern Africa
 
In South Africa the magazine 'The African Drum is created by an Africaner (Robert Crisp) after a slow start it becomes The Drum and is culturally important throughout Africa for many years. 
1951Europe - Germany
 
The exhibition Subjektive Fotografie opens in Cologne. 
1952North America - USA
 

 
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1952, Book cover for "the Decisive Moment" (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), Book cover, Private collection, LL/17946
Henri Cartier-Bresson publishes The Decisive Moment (New York: Simon and Schuster).
1952Europe - Switzerland
 

 
Paul Strand, 1952, Book cover for Claude Roy & Paul Strand "La France de Profil" (Lausanne: Guilde du Livre, 1952), Book cover, Soler y LLach, LL/48065
Paul Strand and Claude Roy publish La France de Profil.
1952Europe - Greece
 
The Greek Photographic Society (EFE) is founded. 
1952North America - USA
 
Minor White founds the influential photographic magazine Aperture.
1953North America - Cuba
 
The Cuban Revolution 
1953Global
 
James Watson and Francis Crick announce that DNA has the form of a double helix and go on to receive the Nobel prize for their work. Their work is partially based on the 1952 work of Rosalind Franklin who had produced x-ray evidence and notes on the DNA molecule. 
1953Asia - French Indochina
 
Robert Capa is killed by a land mine whilst photographing in French Indochina. He had been the motivator behind the formation of the Magnum photo-agency.
1954North America - Canada
 
First issue of Sports Illustrated (Vol.1 No.1) and includes a photograph by Mark Kauffman of the mile race between Dr. Roger Bannister (England) and Michael Landy (Australia) in Vancouver when both men beat the four minute barrier. 
1954Asia - French Indochina
 
French forces are defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and this marks the end of French Indochina 
1955North America - USA
 

 
Roy DeCarava, 1955, Book cover for Roy DeCarava "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" Story by Langston Hughes. (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1955), Book cover, Swann Galleries - New York, LL/28618
Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes publish The Sweet Flypaper of Life.
1955North America - USA
 
Edward Steichen organizes The Family of Man Exhibition which was shown first at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York but tours to widespread acclaim and vast crowds. It includes 503 works by 273 photographers from 68 countries.
1955North America - USA
 
The poem Howl by Allen Ginsberg with its exploration of drug-induced realities of the Beat generation was censored but finally published in 1957 to wide acclaim.
1956Middle East
 
The Suez Crisis 
1956Europe - France
 

 
William Klein, 1956, Book cover for William Klein, New York, life is good & good for you in New York, (Paris: Le Seuil, 1956), Book cover, Ader Nordmann, LL/51809
William Klein publishes Life Is Good & Good for You in New York.
1956Europe - Czechoslovakia
 

 
Josef Sudek, 1956, Book cover for "Lubomir Linhart: Josef Sudek Fotografie" (Prague, Statni Nakl.Krasne Literatury, Hudby a Umeni, 1956), Book cover, Artcurial, LL/27277
Josef Sudek publishes Josef Sudek Fotografie.
1956Europe - Netherlands
 

 
Ed Van der Elsken, 1956, Book cover for André Deutsch & Ed van der Elsken "Love on the Left Bank" (Holland: Export printing office W. vonk, 1956), Book cover, Soler y LLach, LL/48064
Ed Van der Elsken publishes Love on the Left Bank.
1957North America - USA
 
Jack Kerouac publishes On the Road
1957North America - USA
 

 
Russell Kirsch and colleagues (NIST), 1957, Walden Kirsch, son of Russell Kirsch, the leader of the team that developed the image scanner., Scanned image, Creative Commons - Wikipedia, LL/47221
One of the earliest digital images created showing Walden Kirsch, baby son of Russell Kirsch, the leader of the team at National Bureau of Standards (NIST) that developed the image scanner. 
1959North America - USA
 

 
Richard Avedon, 1959, Book cover for Richard Avedon, Observations, With text by Truman Capote (Lucerne: Camera Verlag C. J. Bucher, 1959) [First German edition], Book cover, Bassenge Photography Auctions, LL/51823
Richard Avedon and Truman Capote publish Observations.
1959North America - USA
 

 
Robert Frank, 1959, Front cover of "the Americans" (New York: Grove Press), Book cover, Private collection, LL/12524
Robert Frank publishes The Americans. A French edition published by Delpire had been released in 1958.
1959North America - USA
 
Aaron Siskind publishes Photographs
1959Europe - Netherlands
 
Ed Van der Elsken publishes Jazz.

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