MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE | Mahatma Gandhi, The Spinner

File print, LIFE Picture Service
Acquired from the above in a de-accession circa 1980s

Syracuse, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, School of Art, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University, Margaret Bourke-White: The Humanitarian Vision, 24 April – 9 September 1983, illustration p. 13 (another photograph from Collection of George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University)
New York, International Center for Photography, Bourke- White: A Retrospective, 4 March – 1 May, 1988 (another photograph)
New York, International Center for Photography, Bourke- White: A Retrospective, 4 March – 1 May, 1988 (another photograph)

Life, vol. 21, no. 3, 15 July 1946
Life, vol. 24, no. 6, 9 July 1948
M. Bourke-White, Portrait of Myself, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1963, illustration p. 276-77
The Best of Life, Time-Life Books, New York, 1973, illustration p. 89
S. Callahan, The Photographs of Margaret Bourke- White, New York Graphic Society, Boston, 1975, illustration p. 174
J. Silverman, For the World to See: The Life of Margaret Bourke-White, The Viking Press, New York, 1983, illustration p. 177
V. Goldberg, Margaret Bourke- White: A Biography, Harper & Row, Publishers Inc., New York, 1986, illustration pl. 49
V. Goldberg, Bourke-White, United Technologies Corporation, 1988. Illustration p. 100
S. Rubin, Margaret Bourke- White: Her Pictures were her Life, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1999, illustration p. 76

There is a crescent-shaped handling crease at the upper edge of the image which appears to break the emulsion. There are two small scratches in the lower left and right edges. Two abrasions (possibly clamp impressions) along the upper margin edge and a yellow stain along the upper margin right edge are restricted to the extremities and do not affect the image in any way. The margin edges and corners are occasionally bumped and creased, visible only upon very close inspection. The above condition issues are consistent with the photograph's age and use as a publication print. Colors appear more neutral in reality. This work is in a temporary frame.
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Margaret Bourke-White was the first female American war photographer and photojournalist and her work also graced the cover of the first issue of Life magazine. This photograph in particular is highly important as it is listed in Time Magazines 100 Photos; The Most Influential Images of All Time. When Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was held as a prisoner by the British in Pune, India, between 1932-1933, he wove his own thread with a portable spinning wheel (chakra). What started as an activity to draw comfort for himself, turned into a powerful symbol of Gandhi's campaign for independence. He encouraged all Indians to make homespun cloth themselves instead of aiding the British economy. When Margaret Bourke-White visited the Gandhi, she was made to learn how to use the spinning wheel before she was allowed to photograph Gandhi. Bourke-White’s iconic image of him reading the news alongside this powerful emblem was only published as a tribute after Gandhi’s assassination. 'It soon became an indelible image, the slain civil disobedience crusader with his most potent symbol, and helped solidify the perception of Gandhi outside the subcontinent as a saintly man of peace.(http://100photos.time.com/photos/margaret-bourke-white-gandhi-spinning-wheel)