TERESA, Mother (Saint Teresa of Calcutta). Signed photographic portrait with peace quotation, San Francisco, 1985.

San Francisco, 1985. Original black-and-white photographic portrait (image approx. 250 × 200 mm), mounted on card (overall approx. 300 × 260 mm), printed with Mother Teresa’s well-known peace quotation beneath the image. Signed in black ink below the text: “God bless you / Me Teresa MC”, and dated in print San Francisco, 1985. With a companion photograph on verso featuring two documentary images of Mother Teresa in contemplative moments among members of her order.

A very good example, the signature clear and well placed beneath the quotation. The portrait shows Mother Teresa in her Missionaries of Charity habit, hands clasped, conveying the humility and gentleness for which she became internationally revered. The printed quotation—beginning “Let us not use bombs and guns to overcome the world… Peace begins with a smile”—is among her most frequently cited statements and adds considerable contextual and devotional appeal. Both sheets are clean, with only minimal handling wear, and are ideal for framing.

Mother Teresa (1910–1997), Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1979 and canonised in 2016, remains one of the most recognisable humanitarian figures of the twentieth century. Signed photographic material from her international visits in the 1980s is increasingly scarce, particularly examples combining a legible autograph with a datable location and an iconic quotation.

An evocative and highly displayable piece of signed humanitarian and religious memorabilia, appealing to collectors of religious autographs, Nobel Prize figures, and twentieth-century social history.

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