![[Miner mops up after explosion of vein in anthracite mine, Pennsylvania]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93401/preview)
[Miner mops up after explosion of vein in anthracite mine, Pennsylvania]
Artist
Margaret Bourke-White
(American, 1904–1971)
Date1931
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 11 1/2 × 8 1/4 inches (29.2 × 21 cm);
Mat: 18 × 14 1/16 inches (45.7 × 35.7 cm)
Mat: 18 × 14 1/16 inches (45.7 × 35.7 cm)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of Gary Davis, Class of 1976
Terms
- Photographs
- American
- Gelatin silver print
- Men
- Caves
- Rock
- Axes
- Reflections
Object number2005.056.009
Label CopyThis photograph was taken after Bourke-White wrangled permission to descend three miles into a mineshaft. Her mine photographs were published in the Fortune story “Hard Coal” in February 1931. The superb quality of this print suggests that Oscar Graubner, Bourke-White’s darkroom technician, printed it. Even at this early date, Bourke-White insisted that the full negative always be printed—evident by the black line showing around the edges. Known as “printing black,” by the 1930s thanks to Bourke-White’s perfectionist standards this became standard operating procedure in LIFE photo labs then headed by Graubner. ("Margaret Bourke-White: From Cornell Student to Visionary Photojournalist," curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 - June 7, 2015)
Collections
![[Johannesburg seen across refuse dumps from mines which have yielded $8 billion worth of gold]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84020/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1950 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
![[Ruhr Valley, Germany: Wheat Fields and skyline of mines]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93159/thumbnail)
![[Mt. Trocchio lit up by bursts from the Allied artillery barrage, Italy]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84157/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1944 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
![[After coal had become scarce, the furnaces stood cold; cadavers accumulated, for death went on]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84149/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1945 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
![[The funeral pyre after Gandhi's death, India]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84142/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1948 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
![[Leipzig's city treasurer, and his wife and daughter after taking poison to avoid surrender to US troops, Leipzig]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84148/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1945 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
![[Face of the Moon: Ruined German cities and railroad junction in Bad Oldesloe after Allied attack near Lübeck]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93143/thumbnail)
![[Shepherd watching over sheep milling around remains of destroyed German aircraft after Allied Forces raid, Leipzig, Germany]](/internal/media/dispatcher/112089/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1945 (negative); 1979 (print)
![[Vyazma Russia: Mother and brother after having just learned of the death of four family members during an air raid on their town]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93167/thumbnail)
![[Botswana police prepare for Bantu riot over the possible deposing of Bamangwato tribal chief Seretse Khama who has been called to England to defend his right to remain head of his country after marrying English white woman]](/internal/media/dispatcher/100458/thumbnail)
![[Aerial of Waterbury, Torrington and tobacco farm areas after flooding, CT]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93155/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1955
![[Wrecked hangar after Allied air attack on Leipzig, Germany]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93145/thumbnail)