1940s

Latest Stories

A Historic Archive’s Nightmarish Portrait of America

A new book reimagines the Depression-era photography of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Gordon Parks, mapping a country of strangers and ghosts.
George Platt Lynes, Demus, 1937

One of Photography’s Most Enigmatic Love Triangles Finally Gets Its Due

In their book “Body Language,” Nick Mauss and Angela Miller show how a group of artists shaped a network of queer image culture decades before Stonewall.

How Elliott Erwitt Found His Signature Humor and Joy

Erwitt taught himself photography as a teenager. His most famous work was defined by wit, exuberance, and irrepressible curiosity.

Toyo Miyatake’s Indelible Record of Life inside the Manzanar Internment Camp

During World War II, Miyatake made surreptitious photographs of Japanese Americans incarcerated by the US government. He saw little need to glorify, humanize, or even individualize the prisoners—because he was one of them.

Madame Yevonde’s Color Revolution

An exhibition in London of the artist and suffragette’s vibrant work uncovers a pioneer of photography.

A Literary Publisher’s Bold and Original Photographic Covers

New Directions covers from the mid-twentieth century are easy to spot but difficult to describe, often using pictures to describe words rather than the other way around.
Margaret Bourke‑White, Flame Burner Ann Zarik, 1943

An Exhibition Revives the Legacy of “Life” Magazine

The newsmagazine’s iconic and influential photo-essays were a collective effort. For contemporary artists, they’re rich territory for the interrogation of print media.

Racial Innocence in Postwar America

Maia Silber reflects on photographer Gordon Parks, the infamous “doll tests” of the 1940s, and segregation.

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Aperture No. 257

Aperture presents “Image Worlds to Come: Photography & AI,” a timely and urgent issue that explores how artificial intelligence is quickly transforming the field of photography and our broader culture of images.

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