1940s

Latest Stories

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 254

This spring, Aperture presents “Counter Histories,” an issue produced in collaboration with Magnum Foundation and informed by their ongoing Counter Histories grant initiative, featuring artists from around the world who tell new stories about how the past informs the present.