Campus First Aid, Kent State

Artist Doug Moore (American, 1924–1987)

DateMay 4, 1970

Mediumgelatin silver print

Dimensionsimage: 16.4 x 20.9 cm (6 7/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
sheet: 20.5 x 25.5 cm (8 1/16 x 10 1/16 in.)
frame: 40 x 45.3 cm (15 3/4 x 17 13/16 in.)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Howard G. Davis, III A.K.A. David Davis

Terms

Object number2011.132

DescriptionPhoto shows students assisting injured architecture student John Cleary - published through Reuters
Label TextMoore was a photojournalist for the "Lorain Journal" and the "Toledo Blade" before becoming chief photographer at Kent State University in 1967. His photographs of the events of May 4, 1970 are among the most sympathetic and revealing. This famous image of gunshot victim John Cleary receiving aid from determined and resourceful fellow students. While this image was distributed by Reuters News Agency, a variant view of the same moment, shot by Howard Ruffner, appeared on the cover of the May 15 issue of "Life" magazine. Hamilton was a leader of the 1950s Independent Group, a coalition of British artists and intellectuals who focused on popular culture in the service of their art. Today, the Independent Group is credited as a foundational force behind American and European Pop Art. In May 1970, Hamilton set up his camera and watched TV each night for a week looking for the subject of his next work. Expecting a run of soccer matches and game shows, Hamilton instead documented coverage of the tragic shooting at Kent State University, when Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students who were in the vicinity of a banned student protest. The accompanying photographs represent some of the press coverage that appeared in newspapers nationwide. Among them is the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by then-student photographer John Filo, showing fourteen year-old Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the dead body of her friend Jeffrey Miller.

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