Margaret Bourke-White

“I will be a success”. With these self-confident and ambitious words, Margaret Bourke-White began her career as a photographer in the USA of the 1920s. In a profession which had until then been dominated by men, she became one of the most important and most successful female photo journalists of the following decades. From the 1920s to the 1960s, she set new standards in photojournalism with her numerous works for the magazine Life, creating brilliant photo essays, photo features and insightful portraits. Her works for Life became her photographic legacy. In cooperation with the agencies Focus and Constrasto and with the magazine Life, C/O Berlin presents the first German exhibition exclusively showing Bourke-White’s works. Through her courage and self-confidence, Margaret Bourke-White made a unique career for herself in photography and pursued it with passion and enthusiasm. In her photographs, she captured the people, things, and events that made history—and in doing so, secured her own place in history. Not only a historic figure, Margaret Bourke-White also achieved the status of a public personality during her lifetime. She is known within her profession as one of the best documentary photographers of her time along with Alfred Eisenstaedt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and Eugene W. Smith. Her achievements appear even more significant in light of the fact that she was the first woman to work in this field. Margaret Bourke-White’s photographs document history from 1920s to the 1950s, trace her career progression as a photographer, and not least of all, reveal her personal development: the success story of an exceptional woman.