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Elena Vaninetti

Margaret Bourke-White. Chrysler Building Spire, 1931.

This image is one of Bourke-White's most iconic, and was taken from the top of the Chrysler Building, where the photographer set up her camera in extremely dangerous conditions for the time.

'Margaret Bourke-White copyright Getty Images' at the bottom.

Total dimensions: 30 x 23,5 cm on semi-gloss paper.

Fine condition.

This 1931 image shows the pinnacle of the Chrysler Building in New York, the supreme symbol of Art Deco and the American urban dream. Margaret Bourke-White photographed this structure with a monumental, almost sculptural gaze, highlighting its aerodynamic forms, metallic symmetry, and ascending geometry. The shot, taken from the building itself and at great height, exalts the vertigo, ambition, and technological drive of an era that, despite the Great Depression, still dreamed of conquering the skies.

Margaret Bourke-White was the first photographer commissioned by Life and a pioneer in capturing industrial modernity with an artistic sensibility. This image belongs to her earliest work, when she explored the visual power of factories, skyscrapers, and the forms of progress. Her legacy combines compositional precision with a critical and visionary perspective on the relationship between humankind and the architecture of her time.

This work can be compared to the industrial studies of Charles Sheeler, the urban visions of Berenice Abbott, or even the architectural compositions of László Moholy-Nagy and the Bauhaus. Unlike later documentary approaches, Bourke-White here achieves a balance between document, symbol, and visual sculpture.




Photolithography - Margaret Bourke-White © Getty Images

Margaret Bourke-White - Chrysler Building Spire, 1931

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1990-2000

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Alberto Korda (1928–2001)

Larry Clark (1943–)

Slim Aarons (1916–2006)

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Frank Machalowski

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Dominik Valvo

Viet Ha Tran

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