Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) Ruins of Cologne, Germany

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971)
Ruins of Cologne, Germany, 1945
Oversized gelatin silver exhibition print, printed no later than 1965; LIFE Magazine credit and reproduction stamps, a typed caption label in Cyrillic, and with various annotations in pencil on the reverse.
22 1/8 x 19 1/2 in. (56.2 x 49.5 cm.)
Provenance
Russian Union of Journalists
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1995

Note
This print was exhibited in a 1965 exhibition held in the Soviet Union to mark the twentieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The impressive size of this detailed aerial view of Cologne documents massive swaths of destruction to the city, which endured more than 250 air raids between 1940 and 1945. On the reverse of the print, a typed caption label in Cyrillic reads: 'Cologne is in ruins after repeated raids by British and American aircraft.'