Page 5 - To Dragma March 1932

6 To DRAGMA ARGARET BOURKE-W1U

She is very proud of her first "brainchild," as she calls it. "The two SlaU Farm No. 2 Verblud" Apptan in "Eyes on Russia
things I care most about in the world," she said vigorously, "are my
Studio and my book." And well she might, for they are two accomplish- *A "Bourke- White "Panorama
ments well worth caring about!
Here a Camera Becomes
But after completion of the book—it took her half a year to do i t — the Instrument of the
she turned to further adventures abroad and once more headed for Rus- Artist—Photography
sia. On this second trip into that country she went in for more diversified An Art
activity and besides Russian industry, began taking photographs of other
interesting phases of the Russian scene. She took pictures of Russian
villages and of their peasants; Russian nurseries, and, at the other ex-
treme, Russian political meetings; and many pictures of the Russian
theatre—the interior and performances especially. I n speaking about the
Russian theatre—and in answer to the question as to what she thought
about it—Margaret laughed; they are very serious and ultra-dramatic
in the Russian theatre—oh, much more serious than in other countries,
she said. For instance, she saw a performance of O'Neill's "Desire Under
the Elms." I t was terribly dramatic—much more so than any per-
formance of it ever dared to be in America.

But the finest thing in the Russian artistic world to her is the Opera
and the Moscow Ballet school. She had many occasions to work with
these institutions during her stay, and when she spoke about them, she
became eager and enthusiastic. "The Russian Ballet and Opera are the
finest and most interesting things in the world today," she said vehement-

to
They seem almost like a fairy-tale, her adventures in Russia. For a

young woman—an American at that—to be allowed to trespass into
some of the most "closed" districts of the Soviet Republic and to be
permitted to take photographs of what she saw, is indeed very remark-
able. The whole secret of her success, Margaret explained, lies in the
fact that in Russia one is either accepted or one is not accepted. And she,
apparently, was just one of the few fortunate enough to be "accepted."

She had one final fling at adventure before returning from this last
trip of hers. She boarded a plane at Moscow and flew, over the Ural
Mountains, into Asia where she remained for one week. I n that short
time was crowded what were perhaps her most harrowing experiences,
well filled with hardships. She endured terrific cold flying over the Ural
Mountains which were of course deeply snow-covered. Then too, in Asia,
she had neither the time nor the opportunity for proper feeding; most
of her meals were carried about on her person in a "little tin can," which
she snatched at during her scramblings about the country; many times
her "meal" consisted of a piece of cheese—a far cry from a full fledged
American dinner!

Her picture taking in Asia ran from scenes of Asiastic villages to—
one of her most cherished productions—pictures of Magneto-Gorsk
which, as she explained, is the largest steel center in the world. I t is still
in construction and though work on it has been going on for two years, it
is still only partially finished. Perhaps one of the reasons for the slow
progress is that they continue to use camels in Asia in place of horses.