When Bourke-White moved from Cleveland to a studio atop the sparkling new Chrysler Building, she announced her arrival with a card to her friends and clients. Her new address appeared inside the card and on its cover was this example of her art. Her portrait of the Art Deco masterpiece is futuristic and somehow self-celebratory, a prediction à la Jules Verne of the rocket trajectory of her ascending career.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Chrysler Building, New York
Artist:Margaret Bourke-White (American, Bronx, New York 1904–1971 Darien, Connecticut)
Date:1930–31
Medium:Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:13.6 x 9.5 cm (5 3/8 x 3 3/4 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Accession Number:1987.1100.338
Inscription: Printed on mount, inner panel: "MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE // SIXTY-FIRST FLOOR // CHRYSLER BUILDING // NEW YORK CITY // AFTER NOVEMBER TWENTIETH";
[Daniel Wolf, New York]; John C. Waddell, New York (May 20, 1980)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
Victoria and Albert Museum. "Art Deco 1910-1939," March 27, 2003–July 28, 2003.
Royal Ontario Museum. "Art Deco 1910-1939," September 15, 2003–January 4, 2004.
Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Art Deco 1910-1939," March 13, 2004–July 5, 2004.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Art Deco 1910-1939," September 19, 2004–January 9, 2005.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art. "American Modern: Documentary Photography by Abbott, Evans and Bourke-White," October 2, 2010–January 2, 2011.
May, Jessica L., Sharon Corwin, and Terri Weissman. American Modern: Documentary Photography by Abbott, Evans, and Bourke-White. Berkeley: Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 2010. p. 139, pl. 57.
Margaret Bourke-White (American, Bronx, New York 1904–1971 Darien, Connecticut)
ca. 1931
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