David Douglas Duncan
American, 1916–2018
David Douglas Duncan, perhaps the most famous war photojournalist of the 20th-century, died June 7, 2018 in France at the age of 102. He had survived—although wounded several times—many wars and violent actions, including WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. A former marine himself, he once said, "I'm very subjective as a war photographer. I want to break your heart."
Duncan was born in Kansas City, MO, on Jan. 23, 1916. He became a Marine officer and combat photographer in World War II, covering the Pacific theater. He was aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in 1945 during the Japanese surrender to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Tokyo Bay.
After WWII, he went to Palestine for LIFE magazine to cover fighting between the Arabs and Jews before the founding of Israel in 1948.
He'd been back in Japan for LIFE magazine in 1950 doing a story on Japanese culture when the Korean War began. As he told it: "Since I was the nearest LIFE photographer, it was logical I should go there. But the lucky thing was my experience. So that when I started to shoot, I started from a running start. I didn't have to be indoctrinated. I knew what I was looking at, and I knew what I had felt during World War II. So I tried to translate that feeling into photographs that would reveal some of the feelings of the men in front of me."
His work was well published in LIFE Magazine. Besides his war coverage, he photographed subjects in the art and political worlds, including Picasso (he published eight books on the artist) and Richard Nixon. In 1968, he covered the political conventions of both U.S. parties, and captured the private moment of Richard Nixon writing his acceptance speech.
"This Is War!"--a collection of his Korean War images--is considered one of the best books about war photography. Duncan also covered war in Vietnam, which he opposed in a book called "I protest."
Duncan donated his archive to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in 1996.
Submitted by Contemporary Works/Vintage Works
