[Baker Laboratory, Cornell University]

Artist Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904–1971)

Date1926-27

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm);
Mat: 14 × 11 inches (35.6 × 28 cm)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Rachel Childrey Gross, Class of 1926

Terms

Photographs
Gelatin silver prints
Lights
Snow
University campuses
Winter

Object number75.048.006

Label CopyDuring one of her visits back to campus, Bourke-White recalled the odd reaction that her creation of this photograph drew from puzzled undergraduates. She told the Cornell Daily Sun (October 27, 1933) how one moonlit night, when she was eager to photograph Baker Lab in the snow, she decided that “some relief to the stark building” was required to make the image she sought. The “thorough-going camera fiend,” as the newspaper called her, “figured out exactly what relief was needed, and proceeded to furnish it by making symmetrical footsteps in the snow. When she was through, she found herself encircled by some twenty or thirty bewildered young men.” ("Margaret Bourke-White: From Cornell Student to Visionary Photojournalist," curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 - June 7, 2015)

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