Object number2002.31.3
Repairing Tracks at Krupps Plant, Essen, Germany
Date1945
Artist
Margaret Bourke-White
(American, 1904-1971)
CultureAmerican
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 7 3/4 x 7 5/8 in. (19.7 x 19.4 cm)
Sheet: 8 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. (20.9 x 20.7 cm)
Sheet: 8 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. (20.9 x 20.7 cm)
Credit LineGift from the Michael and Joyce Axelrod collection (Joyce Jacobson, class of 1961) in honor of Howard Greenberg
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
InscribedOn verso, by unidentified hand, upper right corner in pencil: PIC #734465; lower right: 86 / 174-T-5; lower center: MB 100;
typed upper center: Ruhr, Germany; center: Men busy repairing tracks by ruined machine shops of Krupp, Essen.; blue pencil notations before "Essen": x ruins
MarkingsOn verso, stamped upper center in blue ink: JUL 24 1945 LIFE PHOTO BY / MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE; lower left: 18203-E
Vassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryFraming Space: Photography and Architecture, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, August 29, 2018 - February 24, 2019Label TextMargaret Bourke-White is recognized as the first American woman to work as a wartime photojournalist. Born in 1904, Bourke-White studied at Cornell University at a time when access to education was limited for women and usually available only to white women of economic privilege. Shortly after graduating in 1927, Bourke-White opened a commercial photography studio in Cleveland, Ohio, where she made a living as a photographer—another rarity for the time. In 1930, Bourke-White became the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union. She traveled overseas again in 1941, first to the Soviet Union, then as a war correspondent for the United States, accompanying the U.S. Air Force and Army across North Africa and Europe. Bourke-White photographed amidst perilous conditions, earning the nickname “Maggie the Indestructible.” After World War II, Bourke-White traveled across Europe, capturing the devastating impacts of war on people and their homes. She later covered the Korean War and partition violence between India and Pakistan, photographing Mahatma Gandhi hours before his assassination. Throughout her prolific career, Bourke-White continuously defied oppressive gender stereotypes and social prescriptions in times of war and peace.
Julia Pippenger ’25
DescriptionBlack and white image of a group of men digging with train tracks next to them and industrial building ruins surrounding them.
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Margaret Bourke-White
1941
Culture: American
