Beschreibung:

Description: A pair of unique, Polaroid prints, silver diffusion transfer (Polaroid roll film Type37), each approximately 2.5 x 3.5 in., one numbered 3 on verso, the other numbered 5 . These are numbers 3 and 5 of an 8 image pack taken on November 22, 1963. These compelling images capture one of the most newsworthy events in American history: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. One of the two is generally accepted as showing the near exact moment at which Lee Harvey Oswald’s first bullet struck the doomed President. Taken by bystander Mary Ann Moorman, these images were widely circulated at the time of the assassination, though curiously were never included in the Warren Commission Report. Never before publicly exhibited, these remarkable photographs are center pieces of J.F.K. , November 22, 1963: A Bystander’s View of History recently mounted by the International Center of Photography in New York, City. Mary Ann Moorman: Eyewitness to History On November 22, 1963, Mary Ann Moorman, a thirty-one year old housewife and her friend Jean Hill drove to downtown Dallas, Texas hoping to catch a glimpse of the motorcade of President John F. Kennedy. The young, immensely popular 35th President was in town for a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Center. The excitement that day was palpable; huge crowds were expected to line the way of the motorcade from Love Field to the Trade Center. Mary Ann took her Polaroid camera, hoping she could capture something to show her eleven- year-old son Ricky who was in school that day. "Truth be told," Moorman remembers, "We both wanted to see Jackie." Arriving downtown about 10:30 in the morning, they parked their car on Main street, and, after realizing the Polaroid needed more film, purchased an 8-pack at a nearby department store. They stopped at Mary Ann’s Thunderbird and took two photographs, one of each other standing or sitting by the car. Jean kept those “test” photographs, the first two in the pack. Walking towards Houston Street, they found the sidewalks were already crowded with spectators. They turned the corner at Elm and found a grassy area on Dealey Plaza opposite the Texas Book Repository sparsely populated. It was a misty morning and both wore raincoats, Moorman in blue, Hill in red. They took up a position that placed them in what they felt would be the direct line of the motorcade. As the morning cleared, they continued to wear their blue and red coats. They waited. A motorcycle policeman approached, and Moorman recognized him as Glenn McBride, an old childhood friend, and took a picture. They coated the Polaroid with the chemical pad to fix the image, and Mary Ann pocketed the print, her third picture of the day. Shortly afterwards another motorcycle approached, driven by George Lumpkin, whom Mary recognized as working the traffic detail at her church on Sunday. Stepping into the street, she took Lumpkin’s picture, and later gave it to him as his souvenir of the day when the President came to town. Stepping back onto the grass, Mary Ann and Jean now saw the Presidential motorcade turn the corner onto Elm. Now the President and Jackie were clearly visible. Jackie was wearing a bright pink dress - "Pink!" - Mary Ann and Jean commented to each other. Moorman lifted her camera to take the fifth of her eight photo pack. It would be the last picture she would take that day. With the presidential limousine merely feet away, she pushed the button to activate the shutter, and heard Jean yell “Mr. President, look this way, we want to take a picture.” Later that day, she gave official testimony to the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, describing what she had just recorded on film: "As I snapped the picture of President Kennedy, I heard a shot ring out. President Kennedy kind of slumped over. Then I heard another shot ring out and Mrs. Kennedy jumped up in the car and said ‘My God he has been shot.’ When I heard these shots ring out, I fell to the ground to keep from being hit myself. I h