Self-Portrait, 1943
Margaret Bourke-White
19 1/8" x15 1/4" Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
From the Sandor Family Collection
used with permission of (Art)n Laboratory (Art)n
NAME: Margaret Bourke-White
BIRTHDATE: June 14, 1904
BIRTHPLACE: The Bronx, NY
EDUCATION: Margaret Bourke-White
attended several universities throughout the United States while pursuing
a degree in Herpetology (the study of reptiles). They included Columbia
University in New York, the University of Michigan, Purdue University
in Indiana, Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and she received
her degree in 1927 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Margaret began to study photography as a hobby while a very young woman. She developed the styles and techniques that she needed for various formats on her own. Her father was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast and he exposed her to the wonders of the photographic lens as a youngster.
FAMILY BACKGROUND: Her father,
Joseph White, was of Polish-Jewish background. He was an inventor and
an engineer. He believed in equality in education and opportunity for
all his children. Margaret's mother, Minnie Bourke, was of Irish-English
ancestry and was a loving and nurturing mother. Minnie was completing
her college degree at the time of her death. Margaret was married twice;
once to Everett Chapman, when she was but 18 years old; and to Erskine
Caldwell, the writer, in 1939, after they had worked together. They
divorced in 1942.
DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Margaret Bourke-White is a woman of many firsts. She was a forerunner
in the newly emerging field of photojournalism, and was the first female
to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune
magazine, in 1929. In 1930, she was the first Western photographer allowed
into the Soviet Union.
Henry Luce hired her as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine, soon after its creation in 1935, and one of her photographs adorned its first cover. She was the first female war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II, and one of the first photographers to enter and document the death camps. She made history with the publication of her haunting photos of the Depression in the book You Have Seen Their Faces, a collaboration with husband-to-be Erskine Caldwell. She wrote six books about her international travels. She was the premiere female industrial photographer, getting her start in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Otis Steel Company about 1927.
PLACE OF DEATH: Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH: August 27,
1971
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Books by Margaret Bourke-White
You Have Seen Their Faces (1937; with Erskine Caldwell)
North of the Danube (1939; with Erskine Caldwell)
Shooting the Russian War (1942)
They Called it "Purple Heart Valley" (1944)
Halfway to Freedom; a report on the new India (1949)
Portrait of Myself (1963)
Dear Fatherland, rest quietly (1946)
The Taste of War (selections from her writings edited by Jonathon Silverman)
Books about Margaret Bourke-White:
For the world to see: the life of Margaret Bourke-White by
Jonathon Silverman (1983)
Margaret Bourke-White: a biography by Vicki Goldberg (1986)
The Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White edited by Sean Callahan
(1972)
WEB SITES:
- National Women's Hall of Fame
- Margaret Bourke-White: A Photographer's Life by Emily Keller information about the book with excerpts and material on Bourke-White's life
- Review by Elsa Dorfman of Vicki Goldberg's Margaret Bourke-White: A Biography
- Filmpicker.com: Photography Greats: Margaret Bourke White
- Margaret Bourke-White @ Gallery M: Biography
- Photo-Seminars Hall of Fame - Margaret Bourke-White
QUOTE: Work is something you
can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you.
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