Tuesday, January 25, 2011

LIFE Magazine: four decades of publishing the top reporters and photojournalists


LIFE Magazine
Originally uploaded by kawwsu29
Beginning in 1936 Life was the first all-photographic American news magazine, and it dominated the market for more than 40 years. The magazine sold more than 13.5 million copies a week at one point and was so popular that President Harry S. Truman, Sir Winston Churchill and General Douglas MacArthur all serialized their memoirs in its pages.

Perhaps one of the best-known pictures printed in the magazine was Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photograph of a nurse in a sailor’s arms, snapped on August 27, 1945, as they celebrated VJ Day in New York City.

The magazine's place in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Henry Luce, founder of Time Magazine, purchased the rights to the name from the publishers of an earlier Life magazine, a general publication that was published from 1883 to 1936.

Life was wildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished by economics and changing tastes.

No comments:

Post a Comment