The Female Gaze: LIFE Magazine, Gender, and World War II

Alissa Schapiro, assistant curator of Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, presents the work of three female Life photographers—Margaret Bourke-White, Marie Hansen, and Nina Leen. The talk will focus on their photo essays about American women in the context of World War II. With the status of female labor in the United States in continuous flux during the war and in its immediate aftermath, these photographers captured the various roles available to women—paying close attention to race and class in addition to gender—while simultaneously solidifying their own positions within Life’s male-dominated photography and editorial staff.

The talk will be followed by a conversation on gender politics at Life with media scholar Dolores Flamiano from James Madison University and Katherine A. Bussard from the Art Museum.

To join live online, click https://princeton.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PnghA4PqRX2bPiaSu6Ypgw (when prompted, click to sign in as “attendee”)