Background

David Douglas Duncan was born on January 23, 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Kenneth Stockwell and Florence (Watson) Duncan.

Education

David Douglas Duncan briefly attended the University of Arizona, where he studied archaeology. He eventually continued his education at the University of Miami, where he graduated in 1938, having studied zoology and Spanish. It was in Miami that his interest in photojournalism began in earnest. He worked as picture editor and photographer of the university paper.

Career

After college, David Douglas Duncan began to freelance, selling his work to journals such as The Kansas City Star, Life and the National Geographic Magazine. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the Marine Corps, earned an officer's commission, and became a combat photographer. After brief postings in California and Hawaii, he was sent to the South Pacific on assignment when the United States entered World War II.

As a 2nd lieutenant, David Douglas Duncan initially served with Marine Aircraft Group 23 and was later assigned to photograph operations of the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command. Though combat photographers are often close to the action, they rarely fight. However, in a brief engagement at Bougainville Island, David Douglas Duncan found himself fighting against the Japanese. He also covered the Battle of Okinawa, and was on board the USS Missouri for the Japanese surrender.

After the war David Douglas Duncan was hired by Life to join its staff at the urging of J.R. Eyerman, Life chief photographer. During his time with Life, he covered many events, including the end of the British Raj in India and conflicts in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

Aside from his combat photographs, David Douglas Duncan is also known for his photographs of Pablo Picasso, to whom he had been introduced by fellow photographer Robert Capa. He published seven books of photographs of Picasso in all. David Douglas Duncan became a close friend of Picasso and was the only person allowed to photograph many of Picasso's private paintings. Duncan lived in Castellaras, France, close to Mougins, where Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life.

David Douglas Duncan photographed both the 1968 Democratic and Republican national conventions, and published photographs from those conventions in a coffee-table book titled Self-Portrait U.S.A. in 1969. He traveled extensively in the Middle East, having been stationed there ten years after World War II for Life Magazine. He later published The World of Allah in 1982.

David Douglas Duncan turned 100 in January 2016 and died in June 2018 in Grasse, France, aged 102.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The World of Allah

    (From 1946 to 1956 Duncan was based in the Middle East, sh...)

    1983
  • Goodbye Picasso

    (A collection of photographs of Pablo Picasso's life and art.)

    1974
  • Picasso et Jacqueline

    (French edition)

  • Yankee Nomad: A Photographic Essay 1967
  • Picasso and Jacqueline by David Douglas Duncan 1990
  • Sunflowers For Van Gogh 1986
  • Private World of Pablo Picasso: The Intimate Photographic Profile of the World's Gre 1958
  • Magic Worlds of Fantasy 1978
  • The Fragile Miracle of Martin Gray
  • The silent studio 1976
  • Viva Picasso: a Centennial Celebration 1881-1981
  • The Fragile Miracle of Martin Gray 1st edition by Duncan, David Douglas (1979) Hardcover

• photography

  • Capt. Ike Fenton, commanding officer of Baker Company, 5th Regiment of the 1st Marine Brigade

    (During the battle to secure No-Name Ridge along the Nakto...)

    1950

  • Alone in his hotel room, the presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon wrote his acceptance speech during the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach in 1968.

  • A vigorous Pablo Picasso at 76 in 1957 at his home

    (the Villa La Californie, in a suburb of Cannes, France)

    1957

  • Marines engaged in combat against North Korean troops in September 1950

    (From Mr. Duncan’s book "This Is War!")

  • Korea

    1950

  • photography

  • photography

    1967

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Connections

Father:

Kenneth Stockwell Duncan

Mother:

Florence (Watson) Duncan

Spouse:

Sheila Macauley

Spouse:

Leila Khanki

(divorced 1962)

Friend:

Pablo Picasso