Margaret Bourke-White
RCA Speakers

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Artist Margaret Bourke-White (American, 1904–1971)American, 1904–1971

CultureAmerican

Titles

RCA Speakers

Date1930

PlaceUnited States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 13 1/4 × 9 1/4 in. (33.7 × 23.5 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/8 × 10 15/16 in. (35.3 × 27.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Mary Kathryn Lynch Kurtz Charitable Lead Trust, The Manfred Heiting Collection

Object number2002.693

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Manfred Heiting Collection of Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

Description

Lined up in perfect formation like soldiers on parade, the RCA speakers in Margaret Bourke-White’s photograph form a visual expression of the processes of modern manufacturing, the increased presence of radios in American homes, and the consequent power of mass communication in the 1920s and 1930s.

Provenance[Robert Miller Gallery, New York]; [Laurence Miller Gallery, New York]; purchased by Manfred Heiting, March 15, 1978.
Exhibition History"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

“Made for Magazines: Iconic 20th-Century Photographs,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 9–May 4, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil, verso of sheet, upper right, and circled in pencil: #108
Inscribed in pencil, verso of sheet, lower right: RMG#1081.55
Stamped in black, verso of sheet, lower right: ARCHIVALLY REPROCESSED 1975 // S082R

The photograph is not signed.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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