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.Luce’s tolerance did not extend this far, however, and after he hired a private detective to find the source of this dissident publication, it simply vanished after three issues (86–87).Unlike at Fortune, however, the sympathies of trade unionists and communists at Life were prevented from consistently congealing into cohesive Popular Front narratives within the photo-essays.But significant elements of their aesthetic were incorporated into the magazine, particularly in its initial phases.And, at moments, they did win narrative control.While evidence of the political sympathies of most managing editors reveals little in the way of PopularFront sensibilities, it is clear that major figures in the early conceptualization and operation of the magazine were deeply steeped in the left social movements of the day.Left-liberal playwright and poet Archibald MacLeish helped writethe famous prospectus in which Life’s use of photography was definitively theorized.Though the extent of his contributions are unknown, the prospectus was a product of collaborative writing between Luce and MacLeish; and while hewas never employed on Life’s staff, the poet remained a friend of Luce, retaining a warm respect for him into his later years (Wainwright 32–33; Drabeck 122).An even more foundational influence was Ralph Ingersoll, general managerof Time Inc.in the mid-1930s.Though a shrewd corporate manager, Ingersollhad clear Popular Front sympathies, as manifested by his staffing of Fortune with a talented left-liberal crew, a “curiosity” about communism that led tohis membership in a communist reading group in the mid-1930s, and his laterestablishment of the decidedly Popular Front tabloid P.M.in 1940.Ingersoll180Life, Margaret Bourke-White, and Partisan Objectivitybiographer Roy Hoopes persuasively argued that the idea for a “picture maga-zine” within the Luce press was hatched by Ingersoll.The left-leaning general manager pushed the idea of a photographic newsmagazine to Luce as early as1934, and persisted so relentlessly that Luce finally gave in.Ingersoll was heavily involved in designing the layout as well.Office memos reveal that Ingersoll was largely responsible for the final decision on the size of the magazine and helped craft the layout formula.The layout of the famous first photo-essay in Life’s premiere edition in November 1936, which enthusiastically covered the New Deal public works project the Fort Peck Dam, was personally put togetherby Luce, Ingersoll, and MacLeish out of photos supplied by Margaret Bourke-White.This layout would serve as a rough blueprint of photo-essays to follow.Although Luce was managing editor of Life in its early days, Ingersoll’s position within Time Inc.gave him the power to choose editors of all sorts, and his proposed tree of managing directors was approved in 1937.His persistent appeals to Luce on behalf of the Spanish Loyalists even carved out a space for a Popular Front, antifascist position on the Spanish Civil War within the pages of Life (Hoopes 96–97, 136–40, 145, 148, 155; Goldberg 177; Herzstein 98).But perhaps the most dramatic Popular Front influence at Life was photographer Margaret Bourke-White, who made a name for herself in the 1920sin advertising, shooting highly aestheticized pictures of heavy machinery.She underwent a major shift in her political consciousness in the mid-1930s, however, and soon was producing documentary photography for countless left-wing political groups.She was intimate friends with New Masses editor Joseph Freeman, made murals for the Soviet consulate, worked with the communistFilm and Photo League, and actively promoted aid for refugees of the SpanishCivil War.Her political activities gave her the honor of being cited by the House Committee on Un-American Activities thirteen times (Goldberg 155, 157, 328).Bourke-White was hired at Life as one of the original four photographers on its staff, and saw her position in the new picture magazine as a continuation of her political activities.She wrote to a friend in 1936: “People don’t realize how serious conditions in this country are.The new job [at Life] will give me more opportunity to work with creative things like this.I am delighted to be able to turn my back on all advertising agencies and go on to life as it really is” (183).Her enthusiasm for the political promise she saw in Life continued well past the first edition, and in her time on its staff she influenced Life’s photographic practice enormously.Her biographer Vicki Goldberg argues thatBourke-White effectively “set up the Life labs, practices, and standards” (185).She hired the magazine’s first film editor, Peggy Sargent, and taught her how to define a quality photograph.Sargent, in turn, was put in charge of editing allLife, Margaret Bourke-White, and Partisan Objectivity 181the photographers’ film, which meant that any film shot by a Life staff member had to first pass her approval before being sent on to the layout editors [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]