The Corporate Creation of the Photojournalist
Life Magazine and Margaret Bourke-White in World War II
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12914791 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Beth E Wilson (SUNY New Paltz, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 133-150 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2016.1190204 |
| OpenAlex | W2471961520 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 2 |
The familiar cultural figure of the photojournalist emerged relatively late in the history of photography, taking a shape only in the 1930s and developing quickly in the unique conditions provided by the conjunction of the new, picture-driven mass print media and their coverage of the global conflict of World War II. This article asserts that market and business demands drove this invention, focusing primarily on the career of Margaret Bourke-White and her symbiotic relationship with Life magazine. By analyzing the management hierarchy and business model of Life, I show how the majority of staff photographers were in fact constrained by the corporate structure, while only a few, such as Bourke-White, were accorded star status as ‘independent’ and intrepid photojournalists. Finally, the ideological function of the romanticised photojournalist as a proxy of freedom is analysed in relation to the rise of corporate/technocratic bureaucratic structures that came to dominate the post-war period
Art · Art history · Bureaucracy · Corporate governance · Corporate structure · Ideology · Management · Media studies · Photography · Photojournalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Technocracy · Visual arts · White (mutation · World War II · European history and politics · History · Law · Photography and Visual Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |