Margaret Bourke-WhiteAmerican, 1904–1971Terminal Tower, Cleveland
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Terminal Tower, Cleveland” now? Collection: Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis. Not on view at present. Checked October 12, 2026.
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Details
- Accession number
- 92.92.8
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — © Estate of Margaret Bourke-White
In the life of Margaret Bourke-White
The whole life1927
Becomes Bourke-White
She adds her mother’s surname, Bourke, to her own name, White, and hyphenates the result.
1928
Moves to Cleveland: an industrial photography studio
A year after graduating she moves from Ithaca to Cleveland, where she opens a commercial photography studio and concentrates on architectural and industrial work. Among her clients is the Otis Steel Company (other accounts say she went to work for it straight away as an industrial photographer).
summer 1929
Joins Fortune magazine
She accepts a post as associate editor and staff photographer at the new business magazine Henry Luce is launching in the fall. She holds it until 1935.
1930
First Western photographer admitted to the USSR
She is granted official access to document the industrial sites of the Soviet Union during the first five-year plan, the first Western professional photographer to be admitted. She returns in each of the next two summers, until 1932.
c. 1930
A studio in the Chrysler Building
The building’s management at first refuses to rent to a woman, but with a recommendation from Fortune, her principal employer at the time, she opens her studio there shortly afterwards. She hires John Vassos to design the deluxe interior, whose clean modern lines echo the building’s exterior.
1930–1932
Photographs Stalin, his mother, Radek and Eisenstein
On her trips she photographs Joseph Stalin and, in Georgia, his mother and great-aunt; she also portrays Karl Radek, Sergei Eisenstein and Hugh Cooper. The work in the USSR demanded great patience, and her impressions remained mixed but on the whole positive.
