Photos: LIFE magazine’s women photographers from the 1930s-1970s

The New-York Historical Society has put on show the work of six prominent women photographers, whose iconic work for LIFE magazine was integral to Henry Luce’s vision for an “American Century.” The exhibition features more than 70 images by Margaret Bourke-White (she was one of the first four staff photographers at LIFE), Marie Hansen, Martha Holmes, Lisa Larsen, Nina Leen, and Hansel Mieth, who were among the few women photographers employed by LIFE from the 1930s to 1970s.

Updated on: Jul 01, 2019 4:14 PM IST

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Rows of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, commonly known as the WAACs, don their first gas masks at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Marie Hansen’s photograph from “The WAACs,”LIFE, September 7, 1942. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Construction of giant pipes used to divert a section of the Missouri River during the building of the Fort Peck Dam. Margaret Bourke-White’s photograph from “Franklin Roosevelt’s Wild West,” LIFE, November 23, 1936. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Singer Billy Eckstine (third from right) posing with pianist Bobby Tucker, Charles Sifford, Mike Hall, Bernie Ebbins, Milton Ebbins, Hal Webman of Billboard magazine & Frances Stillman, in front of theater marquee, 1950. The story drew vicious letters from the public, and the fallout damaged Eckstine’s career. Martha Holmes’ photograph from “Mr. B.,” LIFE, April 24, 1950. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Russian women workers decorating the railroad station the day before the Yugoslav leader Tito, visits Russia. Lisa Larsen’s unpublished photograph from “Tito as Soviet Hero, How Times Have Changed!” LIFE, June 25, 1956. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Martha Holmes began photographing for LIFE in 1944, and this one of mixed-race singer Billy Eckstine being embraced by a white fan (from 1950) was a provocative image that Holmes counted among her best because she felt that it “told just what the world should be like.” (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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At the height of the Cold War in 1956, LIFE sent Lisa Larsen to document the Kremlin visit of Yugoslavia’s President Josip Broz (known as Tito). She captured the immense crowds, later believed to be present under duress. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Mary Hansen’s story acquainted Americans to women’s participation in the military: over the course of the war, 150,000 women joined up and thousands were deployed. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Hansel Mieth’s photograph from “International Ladies’ Garment Workers: How a Great Union Works Inside and Out,” LIFE, August 1, 1938. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Hansel Mieth’s 1938 photo essay about the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union offered a sympathetic view of organized labor during the Depression. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Nina Leen’s unpublished photograph from “American Woman’s Dilemma,” LIFE, June 16, 1947. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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Housewife Marjorie McWeeney ironing amidst a symbolic display of her week's housework at Bloomingdale's store-- 35 beds to be made, 750 items of glass & china, 400 pieces of silverware to wash, 174 lbs of food to prepare, some of 250 pieces of laundry on a line and a ringer washing machine. Nina Leen’s photograph from “American Woman’s Dilemma,” LIFE, June 16, 1947. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)

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(L-R) Young girls Iris Fredricks with Betty & Grace Whitbread posing next to a mislettered sign on the outskirts of town. Margaret Bourke-White’s photograph from “Franklin Roosevelt’s Wild West,” LIFE, November 23, 1936. (© LIFE Picture Collection, Meredith Corporation)