Page 45 - 2015 Summer - To Dragma

In 1929, the editor of the new magazine, Fortune, fBeoauturkreed-Wohnittehepofisrisntgisswuiethohf eLrIFpEhmotaoggarzaipneh.,
saw Bourke-White’s photos and hired her as the first
photographer on staff. As a result of the recognition
she received from Fortune, she was commissioned to
photograph the Chrysler Building. She fell in love with
the architecture and moved her studio to the 61st floor.
She frequently crawled out to the ledge of the building
and took pictures from the gargoyles on the corners. She went on
to work for Life magazine with its first cover featuring one of her
photographs. While working at Life, the staff began to call her “Maggie
the Indestructible,” due to the amount of life-threatening situations
she experienced through her work. Once, she was on a ship off the
coast of Africa when the ship was torpedoed and sunk. Bourke-White
lost most of her equipment but survived. She also was the only foreign
photographer in Moscow when Germany invaded in 1941, and she was
bombarded by the German forces.

Her photographs, revered in the world of photojournalism, gained her
much recognition. She was the first foreign photographer allowed free
reign in the Soviet Union, the first woman war correspondent, and the
first woman photographer to be allowed to work in combat zones during
World War II. In 1936, Bourke-White was named one of 10 most notable
American women in a poll. Her work was called ‘the finest ever seen’
by the editor of the book, “The History of Photography.” She had the
opportunity to photograph Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Pope Pius
XII, President Roosevelt and others. In addition, she was the last person to photograph Gandhi on the day of his
assassination. In 1951, she was among the first few women to receive the American Woman of Achievement award.
Margaret Bourke-White died in 1971 at the age of 67 due to complications with Parkinson’s Disease.

An exhibit of her works was originally displayed at the New York World’s Fair in 1940 and then traveled to different cities and
AOII chapters. Now, photographs taken by Bourke-White can be found in the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum
of Art, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Library of Congress. Manuscripts,
memorabilia, photographs and negatives of hers are housed in Syracuse’s Bird Library Special Collections section. The
Images Collection of the AOII Archives includes 17 of her prints, which are on permanent display at AOII International
Headquarters in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Issue no. 3 • Summer 2015 To Dramga • 45