Life (magazine)

Lore & Background

The magazine's place in the history of photojournalism is considered one of its most important contributions to the world of publishing. From 1936 to the 1960s, Life was a wide-ranging general-interest magazine known for its photojournalism. During this period, it was one of the most popular magazines in the United States, with its circulation regularly reaching a quarter of the U.S. population.

A Name Bought for a Vision

He sold the old title's subscription list and content to another humor publication, Judge, freeing the name for his own ambitious project under Time Inc. Luce's internal prospectus articulated a bold mission: to let American readers witness the world through photographs rather than merely reading about it. The first issue, priced at ten cents, featured five pages of Alfred Eisenstaedt's photographs and a cover image of the Fort Peck Dam in Montana by Margaret Bourke-White. The format was revolutionary—text was reduced to captions beneath 50 pages of images printed on heavily coated paper.

Defining an Era of Photojournalism

Its circulation regularly touched a quarter of the U.S. population, making it one of the most widely read periodicals in the country. The magazine's influence on the craft of photojournalism is widely regarded as one of its most significant contributions to publishing history. Life operated out of its own Beaux-Arts building at 19 West 31st Street before later relocating editorial offices to 9 Rockefeller Plaza. The magazine's format—condensed text serving as captions for large-format photographs on premium coated stock—set a standard that reshaped how news and culture were consumed in the United States, and its place in the broader history of visual storytelling remains a cornerstone of the publishing world.

War, Art, and the Home Front

When Congress barred the military from using government funds to hire field artists, Life privatized the program, employing artists released by the Department of War.

The People Behind the Lens

Life's editorial leadership shaped its identity as much as its photographers did. He was known for granting his staff remarkable creative freedom, particularly to a trio of women editors—Sally Kirkland in fashion, Mary Letherbee in movies, and Mary Hamman in modern living.

Reader's Guide

In 1936, publisher Henry Luce purchased a humor magazine called Life for US$92,000 because he wanted the name for his company, Time Inc., to use. Time Inc. sold Life subscription list and features to another humor magazine, Judge. Convinced that pictures could tell a story instead of just illustrating text, Luce launched the new Life on November 23, 1936, with John Shaw Billings and Daniel Longwell as founding editors. The third magazine published by Luce, after Time in 1923 and Fortune in 1930, Life developed as the definitive photo magazine in the U.S., giving as much space and importance to images as to words.

The first issue of this version of Life, which sold for ten cents, had five pages of Alfred Eisenstaedt's photographs. Luce's first issue cover depicted the Fort Peck Dam in Montana, a Works Progress Administration project, photographed by Margaret Bourke-White. The format of Life in 1936 was a success: the text was condensed into captions for 50 pages of photographs.

The magazine was printed on heavily coated paper and cost readers only a dime. The magazine's circulation was beyond the company's predictions, going from 380,000 copies of the first issue to more than one million a week four months later. It soon challenged The Saturday Evening Post, then the largest-circulation weekly in the country. The magazine's success stimulated many imitators, such as Look, which was founded a year later in 1937 and ran until 1971.

Luce moved Life into its own building at 19 West 31st Street, a Beaux-Arts building constructed in 1894. Later Life moved its editorial offices to 9 Rockefeller Plaza. A co-founder of the new Life magazine, Longwell served as managing editor from 1944 to 1946, and as chairman of the board of editors until his retirement in 1954.

He was credited for publishing Winston Churchill's The Second World War and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Luce also selected Edward Kramer Thompson, a stringer for Time, as assistant picture editor in 1937. From 1949 to 1961, Thompson was the managing editor, and served as editor-in-chief for nearly a decade until his retirement in 1970. His influence was significant during the magazine's heyday, which was roughly from 1936 until the mid-1960s.

Did You Know?

• The magazine's caption for Robert Capa's D-Day photos stated the images were fuzzy because Capa's hands were shaking, not due to excitement.