BourkeWhite

Bourke-White, often identified as Margaret Bourke-White, (1904–1971) was an American photographer and documentary photographer who helped define 20th-century photojournalism. She is regarded as a pioneering figure for women in the field and was one of the first photographers to work as a staff photographer for Life magazine.

In the 1930s, Bourke-White produced a body of work for Fortune magazine documenting American industry and urban life during the Great Depression; her large-format images helped shape the era’s visual portrayal of power, industry, and economic hardship. Her work extended beyond the United States as she traveled to photograph industrial subjects and social conditions around the world.

During World War II, she covered Allied campaigns in Europe and contributed extensively to Life’s war coverage. She was among the early foreign photographers permitted to document the Soviet Union, and she produced frontline scenes and portraits that brought the realities of war to a broad audience.

Her postwar work included coverage of the aftermath of conflict, including the liberation of camps, as well as notable portraits such as Gandhi with his spinning wheel. Bourke-White’s photographs contributed to the public understanding of war, industry, and reconstruction in the mid-20th century.

Her legacy rests on expanding opportunities for women in photojournalism and on the enduring influence of her documentary imagery. Her photographs are held in major museum collections and archives, and she is remembered as a leading figure in modern documentary photography.