Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, wife of China’s generalissimo, inspects ruins of Chungking after heavy bombing raid by Japanese. This was one of a series of raids by which the Japanese sought to break morale in the Chinese provisional capital. Although morale did not break, much of the city was left a smoking mass of ruins. Other people shown with Madame Chiang Kai-Shek are members of the Chinese Air Raid Relief Committee, September 1940.

Sheet: 6 7/16 x 8 3/8

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Aerial bombardments
• Air Raid Relief Committee (China)
• China Burma India Theater
• Chungking
• Female Figures
• Madame Chiang Kai Shek
• Madame Chiang Kai-Shek
• Rubble
• Women in war
• World War II

• Image Dimensions: 5 13/16 x 5 15/16 in. (14.76 x 15.08 cm)

This object is a member of the following portfolios: