Shirley Carter Burden (December 9, 1908 – June 3, 1989) was an American photographer, author of picture essays on racism, Catholicism, and history of place. He served on advisory committees of museums, including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California, and was the Photography Committee chairman at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York, and of ''Aperture'', which named the Burden Gallery (New York) in his honor.

Early life

Burden was born on December 9, 1908, in New York City, the younger son of William Armistead Moale Burden Sr. and Florence Vanderbilt (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Twombly) Burden. He was the brother of Ambassador William Armistead Moale Burden Jr. His maternal grandparents were

Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly (January 8, 1854 – April 11, 1952) was an American socialite and heiress. She was a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family. She and her husband Hamilton McKown Twombly built Florham, a gilded age estate in Ma ...

(1854–1952) and

Hamilton McKown Twombly Hamilton McKown Twombly Sr. (August 11, 1849 – January 11, 1910) was an American businessman. Early life Hamilton McKown Twombly Sr. was born on August 11, 1849 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and grew up in Boston. His parents were Alexand ...

(1849–1910), and he was a great-great-grandson of

Cornelius Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

. He was at the

Browning School The Browning School is an independent school for boys in New York City. It was founded in 1888 by John A. Browning. It offers instruction in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. The school is a member of the New York Interschool consortium. ...

in New York City until 1926, but did not go on to college or university education.

Career

Beginning in 1924, Burden assisted at

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as British Pathé. Its coll ...

. In 1926, he and his cousin filmed an Ontario Indian tribe for their ''The Silent Enemy'', and from 1927 held a minor position at

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

. A 1929 meeting with

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...

inspired his interest in photography and later gained his mentorship. He sought better motion picture prospects in California and Hollywood and from 1929 to 1934 used his contact

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker and Academy Award winner, as well as a former aviator who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and Polish Air Force. In film, he is credited a ...

to gain associate producer work, most significantly at

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

on Academy Award nominated "

She She most commonly refers to: *She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English. She or S.H.E. may also refer to: Literature and films *'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...

Commercial career

During World War 2 Burden established Tradefilms in 1942, successfully producing training films which were then in demand from the US Navy, the Office of Education, and

Lockheed Aircraft Lockheed (originally spelled Loughead) may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Lockheed Corporation, a former American aircraft manufacturer * Lockheed Martin, formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta ** Lockheed Ma ...

. This business was unsustainable postwar and Burden and Tradefilms partner Todd Walker opened a photography studio in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

, California, in 1946, producing advertising and architectural photography for magazines ''

Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...

, House and Garden, Arts and Architecture''.

Fine art career

Dissatisfied with commercial photography, and having embraced

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, Burden decided on a more fulfilling fine art career, encouraged by Minor White whom he met in 1952. The friendship developed into his patronage of White's ''Aperture'' magazine. He assisted

in gathering photography for, and subsequently contributing images to,

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

's highly successful, international travelling Family of Man (1955), working on this also with

Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange' ...

whom he befriended. These contacts and experience launched a successful fine art photography career.; his photo-essay on the all-but-abandoned

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mi ...

, was exhibited under the auspices of the City of New York, and an invitation to exhibit his essay on the

Weehawken Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

ferry at

in ''Diogenes With a Camera IV'' in 1958, curated by Steichen, who encouraged Burden to photograph

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monks at the abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Kentucky (''God Is My Life''). Travel to

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Château ...

in 1960 resulted in ''Behold Thy Mother'', published by Doubleday in 1965, and notoriety continued with the well publicised ''I Wonder Why'', which documented

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

experienced by a young black girl. He continued with his photo essays (on Japan, and his ancestors, the Vanderbilts) and he repaid his success by chairing or advising a range of photography organisations, and teaching (1978–81, at the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred R. ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

, California.).

Personal life

In 1934, Burden married Flobelle Fairbanks, an actress and niece of actor

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...

Sr. Together, they were the parents of two children, a daughter and a son: * Margaret Florence (1936–2019), who married Daniel Childs. * Shirley Carter Burden Jr. (1941–1996), who was a former assistant to Senator

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

, and who was married to Amanda Jay Mortimer (b. 1944) before their divorce in 1972. After the death of his first wife Flobelle on January 5, 1969, Burden married Julietta Valverde Lyon in 1971. Burden died June 3, 1989 above

Teterboro Airport Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport in the boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey. His grandson, S. Carter Burden III, is the founder of the managed web hosting provider Logicworks. His granddaughter, Constance Childs, married celebrity chef and

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

host

David Rosengarten David Rosengarten (born January 25, 1950) is an American chef, author and television personality, who hosted or co-hosted more than 2500 television shows on the Food Network from 1994 to 2001. Personal life Rosengarten was born in New York City ...

Legacy

He gifted or exchanged, in memory of his first wife Flobelle, large numbers of photographs from his generous and eclectic collection of modernist works to MoMA, The Centre for Photography and other institutions. In 1989, 5 years after ''Aperture'' moved headquarters to a five-story brownstone at 20 East 23rd Street in New York,Anthony Ramirez, "A Patron of the Arts Needs a Patron," ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1997 the building's second floor was devoted to the Burden Gallery, in recognition of Burden's longtime support.The Burden Professorship in Photography
at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1999 was established posthumously by his family.

Books

* 1960 ''God Is My Life'' * 1963 ''I Wonder Why'' * 1965 ''Behold Thy Mother'' * 1981 ''Presence'' * 1981''The Vanderbilts in My Life'' * 1985 ''Chairs'' * 1989 ''The Mary I Love''

Films

* 1930 '' The Silent Enemy'' (assistant editor) * 1933 '' Before Dawn'' (associate producer) * 1935 ''She'' (production associate) * 1940 ''Look to Lockheed for Leadership'' (Documentary short) * 1940 ''The Alchemist in Hollywood''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burden, Shirley American photojournalists American Roman Catholics American film producers 1908 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American philanthropists Vanderbilt family