Margaret Bourke-White

About the Artist

Oscar Graubner. Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building. c. 1930. Gelatin silver print, 13 1/2 x 10 1/2" (34.5 x 26.7 cm). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. © Getty Images

Margaret Bourke-White was a pioneering photojournalist whose insightful pictures of 1930s Russia, German industry, and the impact of the Depression and drought in the American midwest established her reputation. She took some of the first photographs inside German concentration camps at Erla and Buchenwald following the end of World War II and captured the last pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, in India. Bourke-White entered Columbia University in 1921 to study herpetology; however, the following year a photography course taught by Clarence H. White at the Clarence H. White School of Photography left a lasting impression. For the course Bourke-White received her first camera, a secondhand 3 ¼ x 4 ¼ inch ICA Reflex with a cracked lens, taking her first photographs on glass plates. Though she continued to study zoology at the University of Michigan, from then on she never left the darkroom. In 1927 she graduated from Cornell University with a degree in biology, but she spent most of her time establishing herself as a professional photographer. Bourke-White opened her first studio in her apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. With photographs of architecture and industry, she earned commissions and caught the eye of Henry Luce, founder of Time and Fortune magazines, who, in 1929, invited her to become Fortune’s first staff photographer. She returned to New York and, in 1930, established a photographic studio in the Chrysler Building. When Luce launched Life magazine in 1936, Bourke-White joined the staff, and her picture Fort Peck Dam, Montana appeared on the first cover.

—Mitra Abbaspour
Alternate Name(s) Margaret White (Birth Name)
Margaret Bourke-White Caldwell (Married Name)

Meeting Points

Cultural Hubs New York
Schools White School, 1914–42
Levy Gallery, 1931–49
Publications Vogue, 1892–1949
Photography, 1839–1937, 1937

Artist Chronology

June 14, 1904	Born At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Bronx
1921–22	Studies herpetology at Columbia University At location: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
Spring 1922	Studies photography with Clarence White and befriends Ralph Steiner in class. Her mothers buys her an Ica Reflex, her first camera At location: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
Fall 1926–1927	Studies biology at Cornell University At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Ithaca
1927–30	Lives in Cleveland At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Cleveland
1927	Works as an architectural photographer and photographs the Otis Steel Mill At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Cleveland
January 2–31, 1928	Eleventh International Salon of Photography, hosted by the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles Participant: Margaret Bourke-White	Los Angeles
1929	First Annual International Photographic Salon, at The Art Institute of Chicago Participant: Margaret Bourke-White	Chicago
1929–36	Publishes photographs in Fortune magazine Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
1929	Chrysler Corporation hires her to photograph the construction of the Chrysler Building At location: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
1930–September 4, 1934	Studio is located in the Chrysler Building At location: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
Summer 1930	Travels and photographs industrial projects in the Soviet Union for five weeks Bourke-White is the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of industry in the Soviet Union. At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Russia
November 1930	Photography 1930, organized by Lincoln Kerstein, at the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art Participant: Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl, Walker Evans, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), Tina Modotti, László Moholy-Nagy, Charles Sheeler, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, George Hoyningen-Huene	Cambridge
1931	Publishes Eyes on Russia Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
1931	Solo exhibition at the Little Carnegie Playhouse Participant: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
April 18–May 8, 1931	Margaret Bourke-White, Ralph Steiner, Walker Evans: Photographs by Three Americans at John Becker Gallery Participant: Margaret Bourke-White, Walker Evans	New York
1932	The New York Times Sunday Magazine publishes six articles, written and illustrated by Bourke-White, about her travels to the Soviet Union Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
February 7–25, 1932	Modern Photography at Home and Abroad at the Albright Art Gallery Participant: Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White, André Kertész, Eli Lotar	Buffalo
May 2–June 2, 1932	Photographs of New York by New York Photographers at the Julien Levy Gallery Participant: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
November 10–December 10, 1933	Photographs of Mexico by Anton Bruehl and Industrial Photographs of American and Russian Urban Factory Groups by Margaret Bourke-White at the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester Participant: Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl	Rochester
1934	Group exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art Participant: Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Edward W. Quigley	Cleveland
September 18–October 6, 1934	Art and Industry, sponsored by The National Alliance of Art and Industry, at the Rockefeller Center Participant: Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl	New York
September 1936–Spring 1940	Signs an exclusive contract with Time, Inc. to work for Life magazine for ten months per year She is allowed to work on non-competing assignments for two months per year. Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
December 1–12, 1936	Color Photographs by Modern Photographers at the Brooklyn Museum Participant: Margaret Bourke-White	Brooklyn
1937	Publishes You Have Seen Their Faces with Erskine Caldwell Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
March 17–April 18, 1937	Photography: 1839–1937, organized by Beaumont Newhall, at The Museum of Modern Art Participant: Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White, Anton Bruehl, Francis Bruguière, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Walker Evans, Florence Henri, André Kertész, George Platt Lynes, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Martin Munkácsi, Roger Parry, George H. Seeley, Peter Sekaer, Charles Sheeler, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Maurice Tabard, Edward Weston, Jacques-André Boiffard, Robert Demachy	New York
Spring 1940	Resigns from Life magazine and begins working for PM Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
October 1940	Leaves PM and resumes working with Life magazine Contributor: Margaret Bourke-White	New York
Spring and summer 1941	Travels through China into the USSR with Caldwell At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Ukraine China Moscow
September 1941	Photographs the German bombing of Moscow At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Moscow
August 1942	Photographs the arrival of U.S. Air Force B-17s in advance of German bombing raids At location: Margaret Bourke-White	England
Fall 1943–early 1944	Photographs Naples and Monte Cassino At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Naples Monte Cassino
March–October 1945	Travels with General George Patton's army and photographs prisoners at Buchenwald At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Germany Buchenwald
January 24–May 8, 1955	The Family of Man at The Museum of Modern Art Participant: Margaret Bourke-White, Bill Brandt, Lisette Model, August Sander Organizer: Edward Steichen	New York
August 27, 1971	Dies At location: Margaret Bourke-White	Stamford

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About the Artist

Meeting Points

Artist Chronology

Walther Photographs