Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White with her camera, 1934.1

Parlor Figure Name: Margaret Bourke-White

Birth-Death: June 14, 1904- August 27, 1971

Residence: Born in Bronx, New York, but grew up in New Jersey

Occupation: Photographer/ photo-journalist

What’s this person best known for?

Margaret Bourke-White is best known for her photography of Soviet Industry and her work in Henry Luce's Fortune and Life magazines. She is also well-known as the first female war correspondent and the first foreign photographer allowed in the Soviet Union.

Race/Ethnicity/Religion: Raised Christian, but later discovered she was Jewish. She struggled with this knowledge and eventually spoke to a psychiatrist about it. 2

Politics: Margaret Bourke-White began her career without any real interest in politics. She picked up the camera to show what she found beautiful. Later, she shifted to wanting to show the truth. This meant exposing how devastating poverty was in the United States and developing a working relationship with Russia.This interest in truth is what places her in the leftist community- and occasionally earned accusations that she was a communist.

Beliefs about relation between art and politics: Margaret believed in presenting the truth. She thought photographs could be used to shape public opinion and it was her "firm belief that democracy will not lose hold as long as people really know what is going on." 2

Major Activities in the 1930s: In the 1929, Margaret Bourke-White helped Henry Luce start Fortune and in 1936, Life. These were two new types of magazines that featured photo essays. She also made trips to Russia to photograph the Soviet industry and produce the book Eyes on Russia. With Erskine Caldwell, she traveled the United States to take photographs of You Have Seen Their Faces. 2, 3

Major Works (include dates and place of publication where applicable): 

Her work in Fortune (1930-1935)

Her Work in Life (1936-1969)

Eyes on Russia (1931)

You Have Seen Their Faces (1937)

Places where figure’s work often appears (magazines, radio, nightclubs, galleries):

Bourke-White's work typically appeared in magazines, such as Fortune and Life. It also appeared in books.

Organizations s/he belongs to, causes s/he supports:

A focal point of much of Bourke-White's work became workers in both Russia and the United States. She didn't belong to any one organization, but she chose to support workers' rights through her photography.

Best sound bites by or about this figure, including source (if this person is a writer, you must include a quote by him or her):

"I have no patience with the kind of camera study that will erase humans lines to glamorize a face." -Margaret Bourke-White 4

"This was just what I had hoped- that through the fusion of words and pictures, we would create something new." -Margaret Bourke-White on her collaboration with Erskine Caldwell on You Have Seen Their Faces 5

 

Was this person a popular or critical success? Margaret Bourke-White was quite successful. She was so talented that Henry Luce asked her to help him start Life magazine. Her work was the cover shot for the first issue of the magazine. Margaret's impressive portfolio is what convinced leaders in Russia to allow her into the country to photograph whatever she wanted.

Any Gossip? 

She was married twice. Both marriages were short- the first lasted two years, the second lasted four.

Fun Facts to Know and Tell:

Margaret originally set out to be a herpetologist and studied herpetology for two years at University of  Michigan. 4

After her divorce from Everett "Chappie" Chapman, she changed her name back to White and then added Bourke (her mother's maiden name). 2

Titles of the 1-3 “texts” (writing, photos, songs, etc.) by this person you’ll discuss in your paper (include date and place of publication, if applicable):

1. Bread line during the Louisville flood (1937, Kentucky)

2. Photos from You Have Seen Their Faces (1937)

3. Photos from Eyes on Russia (1931)

What primary research have you done?

I have looked at several of Bourke-White's photographs from Fortune, Life, and You Have Seen Their Faces. I have also gone through her autobiography, Portrait of Myself.

Major influences on this person’s work (what’s on the bookshelf):

Her father- he inspired her interest in photography

Erskine Caldwell- helped her branch into the idea of showing the plight of American people

Connections with other parlor figures:

a.  friends, people who work together, people in the same circle:

b.  political or artistic allies: Although the two did not work together, Dorothea Lange and Bourke-White had similar goals with their photography. Both photographed victims of the Dust Bowl. Also, Walker Evans and Bourke-White chose similar subjects. Evans' work with James Agee on Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is similar to Bourke-White's work with Erskine Caldwell on You Have Seen Their Faces. However, this alliance was not recognized by Evans or Agee because Agee thought Bourke-White and Caldwell were too involved in capitalism.6

c.  political or artistic opponents: Bourke-White would have opposed Father Coughlin because of his Antisemitism.

d.  other connections: Malcolm Cowley reviewed You Have Seen Their Faces and said it belonged "to a new art, one that has to be judged by different standards." 5

1. Margaret Bourke-White. 1934. AP Images. Web. 9 Sept 2011. 

2. Rubin, Susan Goldman. Margaret Bourke-White: Her Pictures Were Her Life. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999. Print.

3. Bourke-White, Margaret and Sean Callahan. Margaret Bourke-White: photographer. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Print.

4. Himber, Charlotte. Famous in their Twenties. New York: Association Press, 1942. Print.
5. Bourke-White, Margaret. Portrait of Myself. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1963. Print.
6. Quinn, Jeanne Follansbee. "The Work of Art: Irony and Identification in 'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.'" NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 34.3 (2001): 338-368. Web. 14 Sept 2011.