William Vandivert (August 16, 1912 – December 1, 1989) was an American photographer and a co-founder in 1947 of the renowned photographic cooperative Magnum Photos.
Early Life and Education
Vandivert was born in Evanston, Illinois. He studied chemistry at Beloit College in Wisconsin from 1928 to 1930, and then studied photography at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1930 to 1935.
Career
Early Work
In 1935, Vandivert began working as a photographer for the Chicago Herald Examiner. He joined the Life magazine team in London in 1938, where he was initially assigned for a six-month tour that was extended by the outbreak of World War II.
World War II Coverage
Vandivert was one of the few photographers working in color photography before the Second World War. He made color photo reports in Paris in the summer of 1939 using Kodachrome, and the following year photographed the Blitz in London in color.
In 1943, he traveled to India for Life to document the Bengal Famine, producing a harrowing series of photographs depicting starvation and death. One of these images was later selected by curator Edward Steichen for the landmark The Family of Man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955.
Vandivert covered the Second World War across multiple European theaters. At the Gardelegen concentration camp, he photographed the aftermath of a massacre in which hundreds of political prisoners were locked in a warehouse and burned alive by German guards. These images were published in the May 7, 1945, issue of Life.
In 1945, shortly after the Battle of Berlin, Vandivert became the first Western photojournalist to photograph the ruins of Berlin and Adolf Hitler's bunker. These photographs were published by Life in July 1945.
Magnum Photos
In 1947, Vandivert co-founded Magnum Photos alongside Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour, George Rodger, and Maria Eisner. His wife, Rita Vandivert, presided over the cooperative and managed its New York office at its opening. The Vandiverts left Magnum in 1948.
Later Career
After leaving Magnum, Vandivert continued as a freelance photographer, publishing numerous reports in Fortune magazine. He and his wife later devoted themselves to documentary photography focused on nature and animals, publishing several books together between 1960 and 1982.
Publications
- Common Wild Animals and Their Young (1957, with Rita Vandivert)
- The Porcupine Known as J.R. (1959, with Rita Vandivert)
- Young Russia: Children of the USSR at Work and Play (1960, with Rita Vandivert)
- Barnaby (1963, with Rita Vandivert)
- Favourite Wild Animals of North America (1973)
- Favourite Pets (1977)
- To the Rescue: Seven Heroes of Conservation (1982)
Exhibitions
Vandivert's work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in numerous shows, including Two Years of War in England: Photographs by William Vandivert (1942), The Family of Man (1955), and Once Invisible (1967).
Collections
His work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the National Portrait Gallery (United States), the International Center of Photography, and The Family of Man exhibition in Clervaux, Luxembourg.
Death
William Vandivert died on December 1, 1989, at the age of 77.
