**Originally Listed At $500**

Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904-1971). 8 photogravure prints from "Margaret Bourke-White's Photographs of the USSR" photographed 1930-1932, printed 1934. Margaret Bourke-White was the first Western professional photographer allowed in the Soviet Union. Bourke-White shot there during the summers of 1930-1932, and her photographs were initially published in Fortune magazine with the title "Eyes of Russia" as well as in a book of the same title. In addition, Bourke-White's photos became "a six-part series in the New York Times (1932), a deluxe photo portfolio (1934), and a set of photomurals for the Soviet consulate in New York (1934). Still other photographs circulated in exhibitions, books, and periodicals around the globe, especially in Soviet magazines and postcards of the early 1930s." This ensemble includes 8 photogravures from the deluxe portfolio with titles printed below the images. Size of photos: 13" L x 8.875" W (33 cm x 22.5 cm) both portrait and landscape views Sheets: 20" L x 14" W (50.8 cm x 35.6 cm) Mattes: 20.5" L x 14.5" W (52.1 cm x 36.8 cm)

The titles of the photogravures in this ensemble from the deluxe portfolio entitled "Margaret Bourke-White's Photographs of the USSR" include: "Seminova: Premiere Ballerina Great Theatre: Moscow"; "On the Edge of Asia Village of Magnetnaya: Urals"; "Mtskhet in the Caucasus: Ancient Capital of Georgia"; "Medical Students: Tiflis"; "Chain Belt Movement: Machine Dance Moscow Ballet School"; "Steel Worker: Magnitogorsk"; "At the Lathe "Hammer & Sickle" Factory: Moscow" and "The World's Largest Blast Furnace Magnitogorsk: Ural Mountains".

Born in New York, Margaret Bourke-White attended Columbia University (1922-23), the University of Michigan (1923-25), Western Reserve University (Case Western), and Cornell University (AB, 1927). At first photography was a hobby for Margaret; however, upon graduating from Cornell she moved to New York City and became a professional freelance photographer. It did not take long for her remarkable photographs of architecture and industry to catch the eye of Henry Luce, the founder of Time and Fortune magazines, and, in 1929, Luce invited Bourke-White to become Fortune magazine's first staff photographer. Fortune sent her to photograph the Krupp Iron Works in Germany, and she elected to photograph the First Five-Year Plan in the Soviet Union. Bourke-White also famously established a photo studio in the Chrysler Building in 1930, and many may be familiar with an iconic photo of Margaret photographing New York City while perched upon one of the projecting streamlined eagle heads atop the Chrysler Building which was shot by her assistant Oscar Graubner. In 1936, Bourke-White became one of Life Magazine's first staff photographers, and her photos of Montana's Fort Peck Dam appeared on the cover as well as in the feature story of Life's first issue.

For more about Margaret Bourke-White's photos of the USSR, read Josie Johnson, "A Russianesque Camera Artist": Margaret Bourke-White's American-Soviet Photography" in "Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art" Fall 2020 (6.2)

Provenance: private Idledale, Colorado, USA collection; ex-Ginny Williams collection of Denver, Colorado

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#171281

Photogravures are in excellent condition. Normal toning to margins commensurate with age. Mattes are also very nice save a few slight stray marks/stains that are very minor.