Margaret Bourke-White

Library Journal

Margaret Bourke-White and Lewis W. Hine were both imaginative, disciplined, and successful photographers in an era when the medium was finely positioned as an art form. Both these volumes also give visual evidence of their recording of time and place through personal courage. Bourke-White is famous for her daring vantage points, confirmed by the shot of her perched on one of the aluminum eagles high atop the Chrysler Building in New York as she photographed its streamlined details. Hine likewise positioned himself and his camera above New York as the Empire State Building was bolted together. The collection of Bourke-White's work is well produced, with deep tones and fine clarity, reminding those who admire her great gifts of composition and darkroom skill of her significance in the history of photography. Newcomers to her travels and her work will quickly discover a photojournalist and industrial artist whose professional journey left a stunning record of the century. Still fresh and visually exciting after 70 years, Hine's images capture the glory of the Empire State Building and the aerial gymnastics of the steelworkers who built its skeleton. Though focusing on one building may seem confining, Hine's array of photographs from steel framing to completion; Freddy Langer's essay about the photographer, the skyscraper, and New York in the 1930s; and a chronology of the Empire State Building's "life" in the city make for a useful and pleasing volume. Both books are recommended.--David Bryant, New Canaan P.L., CT