acters of her life—her family, friends, drag queens,
addicts, and lovers.
War Photographers
War photographers have risked their lives to document
the many wars of the twentieth century. Over time,
cameramenaimedtogetclosertotheactionandmake
more graphic pictures. By the later part of the century,
their works had the power to shape public opinion.
Robert Capa (1913–1954) was the preeminent
war photographer of the twentieth century. His
willingness to get close to combat—he was killed
by a landmine in Indochina—established a prece-
dent for subsequent war photographers. His battle-
field imagery of the Spanish Civil War and the
Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy is par-
ticularly well known. With Henri Cartier-Bresson
and others, he founded the Magnum Photos coop-
erative agency, which became a symbol and model
for photographers taking collective action to retain
control of their own work.
A highly decorated Marine in the South Pacific
during WWII, David Douglas Duncan (b. 1916)
became known as the ‘‘Legendary Lensman’’ for
his battle photographs. Duncan was the first photo-
grapher to be given a solo exhibition by the Whit-
ney Museum of American Art, New York. Larry
Burrows (1926–1971) exemplified the conscientious
photojournalist willing to risk his life—he died in a
helicopter crash—for his images, having spent
nearly a decade in Vietnam photographing the
effects of war. Don McCullin (b. 1935) has taken
images of devastation and injury in Vietnam,
Congo, Lebanon, Biafra, and Londonderry. His
bookHearts of Darkness(1981) amounts to a docu-
ment of violent conflict in the twentieth century.
Photojournalists
The imagery of photojournalists appears in news-
paper and illustrated magazines. Pioneers are those
whose works are recognized for their art and/or for
those whose subjects are unique. Editors have played
a prominent role in determining subjects and layout.
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952) has
been called the first woman press photographer.
Associated especially with the nineteenth century,
she worked well into the twentieth, producing
straightforward pictures for the popular press, for
government assignments, and of American sites
and architecture over a long, productive career.
Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898–1996) and Erich Salo-
mon were pioneering photojournalists; their pictures
and behavior defined the modern photojournalist.
Working with small-format cameras, they infiltrated
newsworthy events shooting candid images of politi-
cians, natives, and celebrities. In 1935, Eistenstaedt
went to America where he became a staff photogra-
pher forLifemagazine, a post he would hold for
more than forty years. The imagery of Andreas Fei-
ninger (1906–1999), a long-time photographer for
Life(1943–1962), is laced with experimental techni-
ques. Felix Man (1893–1985) also made countless
news photographs for pictorial magazines such as
theMu ̈ncher Illustrierte,Picture Post,andLife.Wer-
ner Bischof (1916–1954) was widely known as a
photojournalist of renown for compassionate travel
images. He became a member of the influential col-
laborative, Magnum, in 1949, and was sent on
assignment to cover famines as well as the Far East.
Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) was a pio-
neering female photojournalist between the late
1920s and the 1950s. Her images were widely seen
in Henry Luce’s new picture magazines,Fortune
andLife. She became something of a heroine, tak-
ing assignments in such places as the Soviet Union
and India. The monumentally formal aspect of her
work, such as theFort Peck Dam(1936), which
graced the first cover ofLife, as well as her exotic
travels, influenced later photojournalists.
Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004) is famous
both as a photojournalist and as an artist of the
camera. His ‘‘decisive moment’’ aesthetic, watching
for the perfectly composed incident, has been
widely imitated. Cartier-Bresson photographed
for several magazines, and came into contact with
many important photographers and artists of his
day (he had been trained by a painter). After being
captured by the Nazis during the war, he escaped
and became part of the Resistance. In 1947, he
founded the Magnum agency with Robert Capa,
David (‘‘Chim’’) Seymour (1911–1956), and others.
Cartier-Bresson’s one-man exhibition at MoMA in
1946 launched his international career.
To Paris from his native Hungary in 1925, Andre ́
Kerte ́sz (1894–1985) was a freelance photographer
working for many European magazines and news-
papers. His aesthetic journalistic style was very influ-
ential on later photographers. He was particularly
adept at capturing humane situations with a heigh-
tened sense of composition. Inspired by Surrealism,
his important series, Distortions,areimagesof
female nudes seen in a distorting mirror.
W. Eugene Smith (1918–1978) is regarded as a
master of the photo-essay form. After being woun-
ded while a war correspondent forLife, Smith dedi-
cated himself to illustrating dramatic stories of
human drama (for example,The Spanish Village,
April 9, 1951), inLifemagazine.HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY: TWENTIETH-CENTURY PIONEERS