Reviews (5)

The photographic art of Margaret Bourke-White
I am quite sure it was the film "Gandhi" that had me thinking Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was essentially a portrait photographer, but this impressive collection of her life's work amply proves otherwise. Bourke-White was originally an industrial photographer, who was hired by Henry Robinson Luce to do assignments for his new magazine "Fortune," for which she did extensive photographic essays on everything from meat packing plants in Chicago and glass blowers in upstate New York to workers in Indiana quarries and the steel industry in Germany's Ruhr valley.

On her first trip to Russia in 1930 she photographed not only the industrial expansion of the Soviet Union but the lifestyle of the people and it is from this point in her career that she made the clear shift to being a photo journalist. During the Great Depression she documented the plight of migrant farm workers and sharecroppers. When Luce launched "Life" in 1936 Bourke-White formed the magazine's original photographic staff (along with Alfred Eisenstaedt, Peter Stackpole, and Thomas McAvoy) and her photo of the construction of Fort Peck Dam in Montana was the cover and lead article in the first issue. During World War II Bourke-White covered everything from the German attack on Moscow to Patton's push into Germany to the horrors of Buchenwald.

Bourke-White's work represents the height of the era in which photography was a recognized art form, by which I mean a time when photographs were hung on walls in the same manner as paintings. Her work, like the best of that period by her contemporaries, has a poster-like design. It is fascinating to read how her use of multiple flashbulbs helped her create a more realistic effect. "Margaret Bourke-White, Photographer" lays out her career in clear stages, telling us not only about what she was doing but the hows and whys as well. Whether you consider yourself an aspiring photographic artist or are simply an interested neophyte such as myself, you will have a greater appreciation for both the artist and her art after devouring this book, which contains 160 pages of superb reproductions of her best and most famous monochrome images (some of which are from her personal archives).

Excellent
I did not buy this book because MBW was an inspirational female or other, but because her photos are simply superb. They capture a feeling, a time and space with a clarity that is both sparse and yet detailed. This is a book to savour and reflect on.

Her sense of design and form was and still is incredible!
This book illustrates why Margaret Bourke-White should be recognized as one of the 20th century's top photographers. Her ability to capture a moment during war and destruction or an enternity in marble and stone, is awe inspiring. She was not limited by her feminity. She moved easily into the world of machines and factories, capturing molten metal and shiny blades. Again and again, I return to the book and study all aspects of her photographs. The depth of field, the rhythm, the harmony and the life seen in all her photos takes my breath away. Within a few days of purchasing the book, I had the joy of visiting the National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa where there are two Margaret Bourke-White photos in their collection. The soft creamy paper used in these pictures counters the hard metal of the image itself. These are the third and fourth Margaret Bourke-White's I have had the pleasure to see in person. The other two was a copy of the original cover for LIFE magazine and a single rose bud. Both of these photos are owned by Margaret Bourke-White's sorority and are featured in their archival collection. The photographic reproductions in this book, although lacking the soft creams of the Art Gallery's copies, do capture the integrity of her photos. I will treasure this book.

Finally, a book of photographs by Margaret Bourke-White
For several years, I would stop in the photography section of whatever bookstore I was in to see if there were any monographs about Margaret Bourke-White's photography. Alas, there were none. Margaret Bourke-White was a remarkable photo-journalist who has given us many remarkable and lasting images of industry, war and society. She joined Life magazine at its founding and died at the time of the magazine's demise in 1972.

This book provides a comprehensive look at her work decade by decade with the best of her best work included with an introduction to each section by Sean Callahan. The appearance of this book is long overdue. A perfect companion to this volume is the biography by Vicki Goldberg.

As documentary images they are as good as any I have seen
This large format hard-backed book is a magnificent tribute to one of the world's most renowned women photographers. Published by Pavilion, this landmark retrospective (with a UK street price of 40 pounds) contains 160 pages of some of her most remarkable monochrome images, together with some rarely seen work from her personal archives.

Reproduction is quite literally superb, with the pictures jumping from the page; most images are placed one to a page while some spread the gutter. Those who aspire to create the very best black and white prints should study Bourke-White's work carefully. As fine art photographs they would hang well in any gallery. As documentary images they are as good as any I have seen.

From the 1920s to the 1950s Bourke-White fearlessly recorded objects, people and events that shaped history. First famed as an industrial photographer, she then became on the first staff photographers at Life magazine.

This book is the most complete collection of her work to date and includes photographs from her early days. Images of industrialised America, through to war-torn Korea and the Nazi bombing of Moscow, all show life as it really was, and photographed in such an accomplished way, that the reader can't help but be drawn into them as though it was yesterday.

Few photo books impress me as much as this one. A worthy addition to anyone's collection. ... Read more

Amazon.com

How did Margaret Bourke-White become the top photographer for Fortuneand Life, a globetrotting adventuress who held court in the most glamorous studio on earth--a Chrysler Building penthouse patrolled by alligators, adjacent to the fierce gargoyle she made famous? By first muscling in as a master of the masculine art of corporate photography. For the first time, that early work has gotten its due in Stephen Bennett Phillips’ MargaretBourke-White: The Photography of Design 1927-36. In insightful prose and glossily reproduced black-and-white photos, he opens our eyes to her fast-developing genius. Her 1927 photos of Cleveland’s Terminal Tower expertly aped the fuzzy, romantic pictorialism of early Edward Steichen, but her 1928 shot of the same building through the spiral grillwork shows her rigorous sense of composition. After she discovered magnesium lighting, her pictures of what could’ve been ordinary industrial scenes acquired stunning star power. Rows of tin soup cans, aluminum rods, hogs hanging in a stockyard, Moscow ballet dancers, Wurlitzer organ pipes: she transformed them all into patterns bespeaking brute power. Her camera was a magic device that transformed everything she saw into a shiny Deco masterpiece. This book is as smart and beautiful as its stellar subject.--Tim Appelo ... Read more