About This Image

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) This image ran on the first cover of LIFE Magazine, November 23, 1936. This print was made by Igor Bakht, June 1984. Title, photographer's name, LIFE set # 673 and copyright information on verso. Printers name and date on verso.

In the editor's note of that issue they said, "Photographer Margaret Bourke-White had been dispatched to the Northwest to photograph the multimillion-dollar projects of the Columbia River Basin. What the editors expected were construction pictures as only Bourke-White can take them. What the editors got was a human document of American frontier life which, to them at least, was a revelation.”

This cover photograph has become known as an iconic image the industrial age. The National Gallery of Art: "The two men not only provide the necessary indication of scale, but also quietly reveal the vulnerable position of the worker in the modern industrial landscape. " The Art Institute of Chicago: "The image of Fort Peck Dam’s spillway showcases advancements in modern hydropower technology while also treating the concrete structures as stately, ancient monuments." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: "Looking up at giant concrete buttresses and what appear to be crenellated battlements (actually supports for an elevated highway), with small figures on the spillway providing the necessary indication of scale, Bourke-White creates a vivid illustration of the power of technology to dwarf humankind."

SEE: LIFE November 23, 1936, Cover; Best of LIFE, pg. 4; Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White, pg. 140.

Provenance: LIFE Gallery of Photography.

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