Last class, before we went to the Met to look at Walker Evans' postcard collection, we took a look at the importance and influence of LIFE magazine to the history of photography.

The 1st issue of LIFE came out on 11/23/1936 and it was actually the 3rd magazine put out by Hery Luce (Time in 1923 and Fortune in 1930)

The belief that pictures could tell a story instead of just illustrating text was one of the main aspects that set the magazine apart. For the 1st issue, Luce ignored the tense world affairs at the time such as the Great Depression and the brewing of WWII and instead chose to depict the Fort Peck Dam in Montana.



In 1929, Margaret Bourke White became the associate editor of Fortune, by 1930 she wrote her name into the history books by not only shooting the first ever Life cover, but also being the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union.

Life went on to hire many established and important photographers that have gone on to change the history of photojournalism such as: Bourke White, Robert Capa, Cornell Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gordon Parks, W. Eugene Smith.



Robert Capa's most famous photo. Link above to read a Time article about him. He actually died while working on an assignment for Life.



Cornell Capa's 1949 essay: traveling salesman.



Gordon Parks' photo of the 1952 Democratic Party convention.



Alfred Eisenstaedt's post Hiroshima photos of Japan.

Life concentrated on different aspects of American culture and was more than just the latest news story. The Magazine allowed photographers to showcase photo essays that might not have been deemed important news, but were interesting facets of a changing America.

One of the more famous of these photo essays was Eugene Smith's Country Doctor, from 1954.





I don't want to go too deep into the history of Life, but you should check these sites out:

life - this has old & new photos broken down by categories.
google/life partnership