turedinthethird,1930editionofAmericanEconomic
Life, an important textbook co-authored by Stryker
while he was associated with sociologist Rexford G.
Tugwell at Columbia University. Stryker’s projects
were conceived and executed as sociological studies.
They were carefully scripted, long-term experiences
in living and picturing poverty. Bourke-White’s
approach elevated consumption, the individual,
and the image of individuality. She not only ac-
cepted, but thrived on short deadlines. She vaunted
her ability to capture the essence of a story in one or
two visits, pre-visualizing it in the ‘‘day in the life’’ of
a representative character. She worked for her pub-
lishersbutcontinuallywroteherownscripts.Shewas
not a sociologist studying human habitats, but a
publicist ripping gutsy pictures and good copy.
Bourke-White’s strikingly memorable images come
from her war and postwar assignments:Nazi Bombing
of Moscow, 1941;German Civilians Made to Face Their
Nation’s Crimes, Buchenwald, 1945; and the famous
Mohandas Gandhi at His Spinning Wheel, Poona,
India, 1946, among others. However manipulated by
her agents, editors, biographers, and herself, behind
them reads a real story of nonstop danger and adven-
ture where the photographer justifiably took center
stage to get pictures no one else scooped. This story,
enscripted in her autobiography,Portrait of Myself
(1963), became Bourke-White’s final milestone. She
died in 1971.
GETALDINEWOJNOKiefer
Seealso:Coburn, Alvin Langdon; Evans, Frederick
H.; History of Photography: Twentieth-Century
Pioneers; Industrial Photography; Life; Modernism;
Pictorialism; Steichen, Edward; Stieglitz, Alfred;
White, Clarence
Biography
Born in New York City, 14 June 1904. Attended Rutgers
University, Newark, New Jersey, Columbia University
(Clarence H. White School of Photography), New York,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, Cornell Univer-
sity, Ithaca, New York, 1921–1927. B.A., Cornell Uni-
versity, 1927. Teacher at Cleveland Museum of Natural
History, 1925. Located first studio in Cleveland, 1927–
- Published first photo series inTrade Winds, Union
Trust Company, 1928. Published first photo portfolio in
Otis Steel, Pioneer, Otis Steel Company, 1929. Hired by
Henry Luce ofFortune, 1929. First photographer in that
publication with byline, 1930. Moved studio to New
York, 1930. Traveled to Germany and Russia, 1930,
and again to Russia, 1931. PublishedEyes on Russia
andUSSR Photographs, 1931 and 1934, respectively.
Traveled to Brazil, 1936. Photographed premier cover
forLifeand becameLifestaffer, 1936. PublishedYou
Have Seen Their Faceswith journalist Erskine Caldwell, - Traveled to Spain and Czechoslovakia, 1938. Pub-
lishedNorth of the Danubewith Caldwell, 1939. Traveled
to England, Rumania, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, 1939–1940.
Resigned fromLife; worked forPM, 1940. Returned to
Lifeas free-lancer, 1940. PublishedSay, Is This the USA?
with Caldwell, 1941. Traveled to China and Soviet
Union, 1941. PublishedShooting the Russian War, 1942.
Traveled to England and North Africa, 1942. Traveled to
Italy, 1943–1944. Returned to Italy, 1944. Published
They Called It Purple Heart Valley, 1944. Traveled with
Patton’s Third Army, 1945. PublishedDear Fatherland,
Rest Quietly, 1946. Traveled in India, photographed
Gandhi just before he was assassinated, 1946–1948. Pub-
lishedHalfway to Freedom, 1949. Traveled to South
Africa, 1949–1950. Resumed staffer appointment at
Life, 1951. Assigned to Strategic Air Command, 1951.
Traveled in Japan and Korea, 1952–1953. PublishedA
Report of the American Jesuitswith John La Farge, 1956.
Published last story forLife, 1957. PublishedPortrait of
Myself, 1963. Received honorary doctorate from Rutgers
University, New Jersey, 1948. Honorary doctorate from
University of Michigan, 1951. Retired fromLife, 1969.
Died in Darien, Connecticut, 27 August 1971.
Individual Exhibitions
1929 Little Gallery, Lindner’s, Cleveland, Ohio
1931 An Exhibition of Photographs by Margaret Bourke-
White; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio
1972 Margaret Bourke-White, Photojournalist; Andrew
Dickson White Museum of Art, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York
1976 Margaret Bourke-White; The Cleveland Years, 1927–1930:
The New Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1978 Margaret Bourke-White: The Deco Lens; Joe and
Emily Lowe Art Gallery, College of Visual and Perform-
ing Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
1983 The Humanitarian Vision; Joe and Emily Lowe Art
Gallery, School of Art, College of Visual and Performing
Arts, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
1988 Bourke-White; International Center of Photography,
New York, New York, and traveling
1994 The Arthur Gray Collection: Margaret Bourke-White,
Photographs, with an Exhibition of Works by Arthur
Gray; Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Shaker Heights, Ohio
1998 Power and Paper: Margaret Bourke-White, Modernity,
and the Documentary Mode; Boston University Art Gal-
lery, Boston, Massachusetts
2000 Steel and Real Estate: Margaret Bourke-White and
Corporate Culture in Cleveland, 1927–1929; College of
Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, Ohio
2003 Margaret Bourke-White: The Photography of Design,
1927–1936; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.Group Exhibitions
1928 May Show; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1929 American Institute of Graphic Arts Sixth Annual Exhib-
it; Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, Ohio
1931 Margaret Bourke-White, Ralph Steiner, Walker Evans:
Photographs by Three Americans; John Becker Gallery,
New York, New York
1934 Third Detroit Salon of Pictorial Photography; Detroit,
MichiganBOURKE-WHITE, MARGARET