Events
Life Lessons: The Collaborative Process Behind Life Magazine’s Iconic Photographs
January 20, 2022 | 6:00pm
Featured Event, Adult Events & Programs
Cost:
Free
Location:
Wichita Art Museum and via Zoom
About This Event
Cover of the book Life Magazine and the Power of Photography
UPDATE: Due to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, Alissa Schapiro will present remotely from her home in Chicago. Attendees are welcome to gather in the S. Jim and Darla Farha Great Hall to watch the presentation or may register for the Zoom link to watch from home.
Alissa Schapiro, co-curator of the 2020 Princeton University Art Museum exhibition Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, will reveal major discoveries made while researching the exhibition. Life magazine was hugely popular in American households at midcentury, and its stories featured the era’s leading photographers. Drawing on unprecedented access to Life’s corporate and image archives, Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, an award-winning book developed by the Princeton University Art Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in conjunction with the exhibition, presents a behind-the-scenes look into how the magazine’s photographic stories were conceived, shaped, and presented to the public during Life magazine’s weekly run from 1936 to 1972. Featuring photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Gordon Parks, Margaret Bourke-White, and Robert Capa, this talk will focus on Life’s often-overlooked collaborative nature that ensured its success as America’s most popular picture magazine.
Alissa Schapiro is a Chicago-based art historian who specializes in 20th-century American art and photography. With training at Harvard University and London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, she is currently completing her Ph.D. at Northwestern University and has contributed to numerous exhibitions and catalogues. Schapiro served as one of three co-curators for the exhibition and and contributed to the publication Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, winner of 2021 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award.
Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, $60, is available for purchase in the Museum Store. The Store will be open prior to the lecture for attendees to purchase books but will close once the lecture begins.
Click here to register via Zoom.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about watching the Zoom presentation. On-site admission and Zoom registration are both free.
The Armstrong Photography Lecture will be recorded and posted to WAM’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/wichitaartmuseum.
About the Presenter
Chicago-based art historian Alissa Schapiro
Alissa Schapiro is a Chicago-based art historian who specializes in 20th-century American art and photography. With training at Harvard University and London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, she is currently completing her Ph.D. at Northwestern University and has contributed to numerous exhibitions and catalogues. Schapiro served as one of three co-curators for the exhibition and and contributed to the publication Life Magazine and the Power of Photography, winner of 2021 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award.
About the Lecture Series
Mickey and Pete Armstrong in 1993
Edward “Pete” Armstrong (1921–2009) was a respected business and civic leader and talented photographer. A photographic officer during World War II, he pursued his passion for photography throughout his life. After military service, he joined McCormick Armstrong Co. in Wichita and ultimately rose to become chairman of the successful family company. His wife, Mickey Armstrong, and family honor Pete and his lifelong love of photography through endowed support for ongoing talks on photography topics at the Wichita Art Museum.