WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White

American, 1904–1971

WA-00016995

Joseph and Minnie White House

Mixed Media

Representation

None documented

20

Institutional Exhibitions

94

Works in Collection

101

Assets Indexed

11

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ238364

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Reinstallation of the Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1980

No image

Edward Steichen Photography Center Reinstallation

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979

No image

Art of the Twenties

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979–1980

No image

Public Landscapes

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1974

No image

Photographs of Women

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

The Artist as Adversary

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

Steichen Gallery Reinstallation

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1967

No image

The Photo Essay

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1965

No image

Edward Steichen Photography Center

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1964

No image

30th Anniversary Special Installation - Towards the "New" Museum

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1959

No image

Photographs from the Museum Collection

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1958–1959

No image

The Family of Man

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1955

Field Verification (7 fields)

5 cross-verified · 2 single-source

BiographyManual Rehabilitation 2026-05-06 + Wikidata· 95%✓
Birth yearManual Rehabilitation 2026-05-06 + Wikidata· 95%✓
Death yearManual Rehabilitation 2026-05-06 + Wikidata· 95%✓
NationalityManual Rehabilitation 2026-05-06 + Wikidata· 95%✓
Wikidata IdManual Rehabilitation 2026-05-06· 95%✓
Profile imageWikidata· 70%
Primary mediumWikidata· 70%

Source Registry (4)

Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/margaret-bourke-white
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/margaret-bourke-white
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Manual Rehabilitationhttps://www.moma.org/artists/712
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred95%
Wikidata
Tier 1 · Institutional40%

About

Why this artist matters now

Margaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and photojournalist whose large-format industrial and architectural photographs established the grammar of modern documentary practice. Working primarily in black and white, she developed a distinctive approach to industrial subjects, capturing steel mills, dams, and factories with formal precision and dramatic lighting that elevated utilitarian structures to monumental status. Her work appeared in Fortune and Life magazines, where she pioneered the photo essay as a narrative form. She also documented the human toll of war and social upheaval, including the partition of India and the liberation of concentration camps. Her technical mastery and editorial vision fundamentally shaped twentieth-century photojournalism.

Source: Christies Artsy · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Mixed Media

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (94)

Approaching Storm, Hartman, Colorado

Approaching Storm, Hartman, Colorado

1954 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 18.3 × 23.9 cm (7 1/4 × 9 7/16 in.); Mount: 40.6 × 33 cm (16 × 13 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

1952 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 48.7 × 39.3 cm (19 3/16 × 15 1/2 in.); Mount: 71.2 × 55.8 cm (28 1/16 × 22 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

42,000 feet over Kansas

42,000 feet over Kansas

1951 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 39.2 × 49.3 cm (15 7/16 × 19 7/16 in.); Mount: 55.8 × 71.2 cm (22 × 28 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

A Mile Underground, Kimberly Diamond Mine, South Africa

A Mile Underground, Kimberly Diamond Mine, South Africa

1950 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 49.3 × 37.2 cm (19 7/16 × 14 11/16 in.); Mount: 71.2 × 55.9 cm (28 1/16 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled

1947 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 35.8 × 50 cm (14 1/8 × 19 11/16 in.); Mount: 55.8 × 71.2 cm (22 × 28 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Exodus, Pakistan

Exodus, Pakistan

1947 · Gelatin silver print

29 13/16 × 32 15/16" (75.8 × 83.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Exodus, Pakistan

Exodus, Pakistan

1947 · Gelatin silver print

11 × 10 3/4" (27.9 × 27.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Mahatma Gandhi Spinning

Mahatma Gandhi Spinning

1946 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 37.1 × 49.5 cm (14 5/8 × 19 1/2 in.); Mount: 55.9 × 71.2 cm (22 1/16 × 28 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Vultures of Calcutta, India

Vultures of Calcutta, India

1946 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 36.6 × 48.7 cm (14 7/16 × 19 3/16 in.); Mount: 55.9 × 71.2 cm (22 1/16 × 28 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1946 · Gelatin silver print

7 3/8 × 9 7/16" (18.7 × 24.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Buchenwald Camp Victims

Buchenwald Camp Victims

1945 · Gelatin silver print

Image/paper: 39.2 × 49.3 cm (15 7/16 × 19 7/16 in.); Mount: 55.8 × 71.3 cm (22 × 28 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Gaspé Peninsula

Gaspé Peninsula

1940 · Gelatin silver print

8 5/8 × 12 5/8" (21.9 × 32.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins

1940 · gelatin silver print

Image: 17.1 x 12 cm (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 in.); Paper: 17.7 x 12.6 cm (6 15/16 x 4 15/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Stranding Machine, Aluminum Company of America

1940 · Gelatin silver print

Image: 10 1/8 × 13 1/2 in. (25.7 × 34.3 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Henlein's Parents, Reichennau, Sudeten Section of Czechoslovakia

Henlein's Parents, Reichennau, Sudeten Section of Czechoslovakia

1938 · Gelatin silver print

7 1/8 × 9 1/2" (18.1 × 24.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Bohemian Forest

The Bohemian Forest

1938 · Gelatin silver print

13 × 10" (33.0 × 25.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Carpatho-Ukraine, Village of Bolidan-Lush

Carpatho-Ukraine, Village of Bolidan-Lush

1938 · Gelatin silver print

10 × 13 1/4" (25.4 × 33.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

School, Carpatho-Ukraine

School, Carpatho-Ukraine

1938 · Gelatin silver print

10 × 13" (25.4 × 33.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Capital Of Carpatho-Ukraine (Ceded to Hungary)

Capital Of Carpatho-Ukraine (Ceded to Hungary)

1938 · Gelatin silver print

12 3/4 × 10" (32.4 × 25.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

World's Highest Standard of Living

World's Highest Standard of Living

1937 · Gelatin silver print

Print: 55.6 × 73.5 cm (21 15/16 × 28 15/16 in.); frame: 68 × 85.8 × 6.9 cm (26 13/16 × 33 13/16 × 2 3/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Father Joseph Turcotte, Fort Norman, N.W.T., Canada

Father Joseph Turcotte, Fort Norman, N.W.T., Canada

1937 · Gelatin silver print

13 1/4 × 10" (33.7 × 25.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

At the Time of the Louisville Flood

At the Time of the Louisville Flood

1937 · Gelatin silver print

9 3/4 × 13 1/8" (24.7 × 33.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Log Rafts, Canadian International Paper Company

Log Rafts, Canadian International Paper Company

1937 · Gelatin silver print

13 1/2 × 9 1/2" (34.3 × 24.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Eskimos, Coppermine, N.W.T., Canada

Eskimos, Coppermine, N.W.T., Canada

1937 · Gelatin silver print

10 × 13 1/4" (25.4 × 33.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 94 artworks →

Artwork sources (4)

94 published of 94 catalogued · 75 with image

MoMA
69 published64 img
Art Institute Chicago
11 published11 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
7 published
The Met
7 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 7)

7 entries · 1 sources

"Hot Pigs," Otis Steel Co., Cleveland
1928 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Man Pulling a Steel Ingot
1925 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Terminal Tower, Cleveland
1928 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Terminal Tower
1928 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Blast Furnace Operator with "Mud Gun", Otis Steel Co., Cleveland
1928 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Rising Cantilevers
1927 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
United States Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins
1940 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

A Mile Underground, Kimberly Diamond Mine, South Africa (Art Institute of Chicago)

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

5

Collections5

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago Phillips

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction