Machine Power Bourke-White Photo Exhibit Presents Industry as Art by Lisa Troshinsky Museum-goers can stroll down Americaís industrial memory lane with the first major exhibition devoted to the critical years in the life and work of photographer Margaret Bourke-White, now at The Phillips Collection. ìMargaret Bourke-White: The Photography of Design, 1927-1936î explores the artistís early development and emergence as one of the 20th centuryís best-known female photographers. Through her work, Bourke-White became an American legend and celebrity at a time when men dominated the field of photography and when the world of industry was hardly female domain. Bourke-Whiteís photosówhich chronicle the Machine Age, discovering beauty in the raw aesthetic of American industry and its factoriesólanded her the position of being the first photographer for Fortune magazine in 1929 and Life magazineís first cover photographer in 1936. ìBourke-White overcame daunting obstacles, both social and technical, to produce her first dramatic images inside the Otis Steel Mill in Cleveland at a time when women simply did not go inside steel mills,î said Stephen Bennett Phillips, curator at The Phillips Collection and organizer of the exhibition. The compositional elements of her early photos reflect the modernist principles that compelled museum founder Duncan Phillips to explore the possibilities of the medium and hold exhibitions by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Henri Cartier-Bresson. During his career, Phillips accepted more than 50 photographs as giftsóamong them 19 by Stieglitzóand organized an exhibition around Bourke-Whiteís ìSteps, Washington, D.C.,î which was purchased for The Phillips Collection in 1996. Even for those who donít completely revel in the world of machinery, one has to admire the sheer brilliance of Bourke-Whiteís photographic sense and style. Trained in modernist compositional techniques, she romanticized the power of machines through close-ups, dramatic cross-lighting and unusual perspectives, presenting industrial environments as artful compositions. She captured beauty in a world not usually considered beautiful. The general public has not seen many of the works in this exhibition since they were first published in the 1930s. Beginning with her earliest pictorial view of Clevelandís Terminal Tower in 1928 and culminating with her well-known 1936 photographs for the cover and lead story of Life magazineís first issue, the exhibition explores how Bourke-White forged new territory in the field of photojournalism. For example, to obtain contrast beyond pale shades of gray, she used magnesium flares to light the interior of steel mills and a new type of photography paper with high silver content to capture a wide range of tones. She favored a two-dimensional rhythm and harmony over a three-dimensional modeling of forms and imitations of nature. Although she didnít invent industrial photography, Bourke-White set the standard for years to come by portraying industry as theater. Born in New York in 1904, Bourke-White was introduced to the world of machines and photography by her father, an engineer for a printing press manufacturer who was also an inventor and amateur photographer who developed his prints in the family bathtub and hung them around the house. Although she said she was not influenced by any one style, Bourke-White was aware of the modern technique and abstract design of the time. In 1922, she studied at Columbia University with Clarence H. White, one of the great photographers of the period, and there she encountered Arthur Wesley Dowís theories of composition, which were heavily influenced by the principles of Asian aesthetics. Bourke-White moved to Cleveland in 1927 at a time when the city was experiencing expansive industrial and economic growth. Other women photographers at the timeóBerenice Abbott, Imogen Cunningham and Dorothea Langeóhad begun their careers as portrait photographers, but Bourke-White favored the potency of industrial photography, both as an aesthetic medium and a lucrative source of income. And unlike other male photographers at the timeóPaul Strand and Lewis Hineóshe emphasized the graphic power of raw machinery, as opposed to the human element that drove it. This is depicted in various exhibition pieces, including ìChrysler: Gears,î which emphasizes the immensity of the gear and places a barely visible worker inside the frameóonly to provide a sense of scale. Her 1930 ìOliver Chilled Plow: Plow Bladesî is a close-up of the bladesí shiny steel surfaces. The image is repeated over and over again on different diagonal angles and the piece verges on complete abstraction. By following Bourke-Whiteís career through the 1930s, The Phillips gives us a sort of history lesson of the United States and parts of Europe and Russia. From 1928 to 1936, Bourke-White supported herself through corporate and magazine assignments and advertising. In 1929, she was invited to become the ìstar photographerî for Fortune magazine, which would document all aspects of business and industryósomething that had never been done before. Bourke-White moved to New York City in 1930 and from there, she was sent abroad to capture the rapidly growing German industry. She also used the opportunity to travel to the Soviet Union and become the first foreign journalist allowed to document the USSRís rapid industrialization plan. The exhibition then follows Bourke-White back to the United States, where she explored the downside of an industrial society by chronicling the suffering of the American worker. She collaborated with Erskine Caldwell to publish ìYou Have Seen Their Faces,î an independent book project that explored human subjects, many of whom were experiencing the infamous drought that plagued the United States during that period. In 1936, Bourke-White joined Life magazine, where her photography also took a human-interest angle. From this partnership, she would go on to produce one of her most famous imagesóthe construction of the Fort Peck Dam in New Deal, Montanaó for ìFranklin Rooseveltís Wild West,î the cover story of the magazineís inaugural issue. ìMargaret Bourke-White, 1927-1936î runs through May 11 at The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., NW. For more information, please call (202) 387-2151 or visit www.phillipscollection.org. Lisa Troshinsky is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.