{"data":{"id":"8061","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":8061,"topgoose_id":17655,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":8061,"title":"The Louisville Flood","display_date":"1937, printed c. 1970","accession_number":"92.58","dimensions":"Image: 9 11/16 × 13 3/8in. (24.6 × 34 cm)   Mount (board): 15 15/16 × 19 7/8in. (40.5 × 50.5 cm)","medium":"Gelatin silver print","department":"collection","classification":"Photographs","credit_line":"Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Sean Callahan","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eMargaret Bourke-White, \u003cem\u003eThe Louisville Flood\u003c/em\u003e, 1937, printed c. 1970. Gelatin silver print, image: 9 11/16 × 13 3/8 in. (24.6 × 34 cm)   Mount (board): 15 15/16 × 19 7/8 in. (40.5 × 50.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Sean Callahan 92.58. © Estate of Margaret Bourke-White / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eIn January 1937, the swollen banks of the Ohio River flooded Louisville, Kentucky, and its surrounding areas. With one hour’s notice, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White caught the next plane to Louisville. She photographed the city from makeshift rafts, recording one of the largest natural disasters in American history for \u003ci\u003eLife\u003c/i\u003e magazine, where she was a staff photographer. \u003ci\u003eThe Louisville Flood\u003c/i\u003e shows African-Americans lined up outside a flood relief agency. In striking contrast to their grim faces, the billboard for the National Association of Manufacturers above them depicts a smiling white family of four riding in a car, under a banner reading “World’s Highest Standard of Living. There’s no way like the American Way.” As a powerful depiction of the gap between the propagandist representation of American life and the economic hardship faced by minorities and the poor, Bourke-White’s image has had a long afterlife in the history of photography.\u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Black and white photo of people in a breadline juxtaposed with a billboard showing a happy family in a car, captioned \"World's Highest Standard of Living.\"","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T17:39:35.000-04:00","updated_at":"2024-12-02T11:22:43.662-05:00","display_artist_text":"Margaret Bourke-White","images":[{"id":82217,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/8061/92_58_cropped.jpeg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"3582","type":"artist"}]}}}}