MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF DESIGN, 1927-1936
Overview
June 5 through October 10, 2004
Margaret Bourke-White (1904-71) was one of the great chroniclers of the Machine Age. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the first decade of her career, she photographed the implements, processes, and output of industry. These were not merely documentary photographs; they were tour-de-force images, showing her grasp of modern design and aesthetics. Through close-ups, dramatic cross-lighting, and unusual perspectives, she presented the industrial environment as artful compositions. By romanticizing the tremendous power of industry and machinery, she captured beauty in a world not usually considered beautiful. Soon her work caught the eye of corporate executives and magazine publishers, propelling Bourke-White to the forefront of photography and journalism in the twentieth century. In less than ten years—from her first industrial photographs in Cleveland in 1927 to her appointment as the first photographer for Fortune magazine in 1929 to her cover photograph and lead story for the first issue of Life magazine in 1936—Bourke-White was on her way to becoming an American legend.
Margaret Bourke-White: The Photography of Design, 1927-1936 has been organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
This exhibition is supported by the Phillips Contemporaries and Trellis Fund.
The exhibition at The Wolfsonian is supported in part by Funding Arts Network.
Featured
Object:
Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971)
Chrysler Building: Gargoyle outside Margaret Bourke-White’s Studio,
1930
12 15/16 x 9 1/4 in.
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of the Margaret Bourke-White Collection, Syracuse University
Library, Department of Special Collections
© Estate Margaret Bourke-White