Margaret Bourke-White: Photography of Design, 1927-1936

by Stephen Bennett Phillips

Before Margaret Bourke-White became America's first well-known photojournalist, she was photographing the beginnings of Americas machine age, focusing on factories, machinery and the objects this technology produced. These striking images, which transformed prosaic objects into modernist masterpieces–were the foundation for work she later did for Fortune, Life, and other important national magazines. Organized by the Phillips Collection, an exhibition and this accompanying catalogue feature many photographs which have never before been published, and presents new research on the images. An extensive chronology of her career is also provided.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Art, History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2003

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Bourke-White transformed photography into art. Her original photographs were originally styled to resemble paintings. All were black and white. Later she learned to add new clarity and crispness to each picture by using different paper and new equipment and flash blubs that were increasingly being developed. In her travels, she had to assume over 600 pounds of cameras and equipment. Americans were mesmerized by her photographs in Life Magazine. It was the only way they could see what was going on in other parts of the United States and the world. She had a great eye for seeing beauty in industrial and mechanical forums. Later, her career drew her into more human circumstances. She nuanced the human tragedy of war, depression, poverty, slavery, and racism. Married and divorced twice, she died alone from complications with Parkinson's. This a book of gorgeous photographs from various collections.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This over-size book is an escape into the beauty of industrial design and also a look at a career that branches out into travel, capturing the faces and toils of many people around the globe.
It is a full biography written in small type that surrounds the photo art. An intrepid woman who lived for her art, taking dangers and slams for what she accomplished. An astounding look at what the world was like at this time, making even the unlovely beautiful.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bourke White was very tough and independent and way ahead of her time. The book tracks her early commission industrial career starting in Cleveland (specifically it's steel mils) leading to her move to New York where she became more editorial working for Fortune and Life (she'd have the first cover). It also shows her shift from the inanimate objects or people that might well have been, to a more candid style which was not very easy with the equipment available at the time.

It takes guts to self-assign on speculation the topic or Russia when no foreigners were supposed to enter, to run a lavish studio in the Chrysler Building during the Great Depression (and run up $5,000 in debt), and to travel into the great dust storms of the thirties.

She worked hard all her life and found herself in numerous historical moments including Moscow being invaded by the Germans (no other foreign correspondents were there), the liberating of Buchenwald, and taking Ghandi's famous portrait next to the spinning wheel hours before he was assassinated.

I found the back section with correspondences between her, her lawyer, editors at Life and Fortune etc. very interesting. Many times her photos were not "good" for purposes but she kept plugging away. There were significant squabbles of photo rights and legal things. Through it all, she kept her priority photography. The gear's changed tremendously in the last 80 years but it seems to me what it takes to be a photographer is still very similar.

[Relyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Margaret Bourke-White is a fascinating woman. I loved learning more about her.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

On of my favorite photographers.