LIFE in 2012: The Year in 12 Galleries

4 minute read

What do the Empire State Building, Albert Einstein, Hillary Clinton, Woody Guthrie and druggy Japanese teenagers have in common? Well … nothing, really. Or rather, there’s nothing that they inherently share — no traits, no historical context — that would cause anyone who sees them grouped together in one place to suddenly nod and exclaim, Yes. Of course. That makes sense.

And yet, this past year, the Empire State Building, Albert Einstein, Hillary Clinton, Woody Guthrie, druggy Japanese teenagers and a cornucopia of other, wildly divergent people, places and topics all made appearances on LIFE.com. Not only that, but the galleries and posts in which they appeared were so timely, moving or just plain fun to look at that they caught the attention of millions of people across the Web.

(If one didn’t know any better, the logical conclusion here would be that people who use the Internet have serious attention-deficit problems, and need constant and varied visual stimuli in order to remain engaged. But we all know that’s not the case.)

In this gallery, as 2012 comes to a close, LIFE.com looks back on the year through a lens comprised of 12 utterly distinct posts, from a gallery celebrating an interracial romance in 1960s Virginia to ruminations on a classic photograph of Albert Einstein’s office at Princeton, made on the very day that the great man died. What becomes evident the moment one starts looking at the pictures in this gallery, meanwhile, is the truly astonishing variety of stories that appeared in LIFE magazine.

Not all of the photographs in the galleries (or the single-image posts) referenced here ran in the magazine. But every single person, place or thing that appears in this gallery was, at one time or another, in one way or another, covered by the long-lived, influential weekly. Anyone looking at these 12 photos — and, by extension, at the links included in each caption — can immediately sense the unprecedented scope of the magazine’s ambitions. As LIFE’s founder and publisher, Henry Luce, wrote in 1936, when he outlined his vision and his aim for his new publication, LIFE’s mission was at-once grand and breathtakingly straightforward:

To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things — machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man’s work — his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women that men love and many children; to see and take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed …

Below (and in the captions to the photos in the gallery above) are links to a dozen features that were especially popular with our readers in 2012; that highlight the mind-boggling diversity of topics that LIFE tackled through the years; and that illustrate and contextualize the past in a manner that we hope and believe is unique to LIFE.com.

To see life. To see the world. To see strange things. To see and be amazed. That sounds about right …

THE GALLERIES

“Love Supreme: An Interracial Romance Triumphs in 1960s Virginia”

“Einstein’s Office: Genius in the Details”

“Japanese Youth in Revolt, 1964”

“Let Fury Have the Hour: LIFE and the Early Days of the Fight for Gay Rights”

“Empire State Building: The One and Only”

“LIFE Behind the Picture: The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS”

“LIFE With Woody Guthrie: Photos of an American Treasure”

“Marilyn Monroe: Early Photos, 1950”

“Portraits of Hillary Clinton as a College Grad, 1969”

“Gateway to a New World: Rare Photos From Ellis Island”

“Linda Christian: The Real ‘First Bond Girl’”

“A Fierce and Tender Eye: Gordon Parks on Poverty’s Dire Toll”

Richard Loving kisses his wife Mildred as he arrives home from work, King and Queen County, Virginia, April 1965.
Richard Loving kisses his wife, Mildred, April 1965. See the gallery, "Love Supreme: An Interracial Romance Triumphs in 1960s Virginia."© Estate of Grey Villet
Albert Einstein's office at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, photographed on the day of his death, April 18, 1955.
Albert Einstein's office at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, photographed on the day of his death, April 18, 1955. See the gallery, "Einstein’s Office: Genius in the Details." Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Kako, languid from sleeping pills she takes, is lost in a world of her own in a jazz shop in Tokyo.
Kako, Tokyo, 1964. See the gallery, "Japanese Youth in Revolt, 1964." Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
When a bill guaranteeing equal job opportunities for homosexuals stalled in New York City Council last spring, militants demonstrated at City Hall. With fists raised, they shout a football style 'Gay Power' cheer at police blocking the building.
Gay rights activists rally at New York's City Hall, 1971. See the gallery, "Let Fury Have the Hour: LIFE and the Early Days of the Fight for Gay Rights." Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
The Empire State Building in 1946.
The Empire State Building in 1946. See the gallery, "Empire State Building: The One and Only."Al Fenn—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
David Kirby on his deathbed, Ohio, 1990.
David Kirby on his deathbed, Ohio, 1990. See the gallery, "LIFE Behind the Picture: The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS."© Therese Frare
Woody Guthrie at McSorley's Old Ale House, still standing today in the East Village, New York City, 1943.
Woody Guthrie at McSorley's Old Ale House, New York City, 1943. See the gallery, "LIFE With Woody Guthrie: Photos of an American Treasure." Eric Schaal—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Marilyn Monroe, 24, in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 1950.
Marilyn Monroe, 24, in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 1950. See the gallery, "Marilyn Monroe: Early Photos, 1950." Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Hillary Rodham (later Hillary Rodham Clinton), Park Ridge, Illinois, June 1969.
Hillary Rodham (later Hillary Rodham Clinton), Park Ridge, Illinois, June 1969. See the gallery, "Portraits of Hillary Clinton as a College Grad, 1969." Lee Balterman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Rachel Pewzner, 20, and her 24-year-old husband, Schulim, at Ellis Island, 1950.
Rachel Pewzner, 20, and her 24-year-old husband, Schulim, at Ellis Island, 1950. See the gallery, "Gateway to a New World: Rare Photos From Ellis Island." Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Flavio da Silva, Brazil, 1961.
Twelve-year-old Flavio da Silva, Brazil, 1961. See the gallery, "A Fierce and Tender Eye: Gordon Parks on Poverty’s Dire Toll." © Gordon Parks
The original Bond Girl, Linda Christian, in 1945.
Linda Christian in 1945. See the gallery, "Linda Christian: The Real ‘First Bond Girl’." Bob Landry—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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