Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange (1895 - 1965) was born in New Jersey to a family of German immigrants named Nutzorn. She had many dramatic events in her life and dramatism was later reflected in her photographs which made her well-known.
At the age of 7, she suffered polio which left her with a permanent limp - her right leg was paralyzed. At age 12, her father abandoned her mother, after which Lange, who did not want anything to do with him, assumed her mother's name. Then they moved to New York, where Dorothea graduated from high school and entered a photo studio to learn the basics of photography. Working there was the first step that shaped her future path in photography.
At the age of 7, she suffered polio which left her with a permanent limp - her right leg was paralyzed. At age 12, her father abandoned her mother, after which Lange, who did not want anything to do with him, assumed her mother's name. Then they moved to New York, where Dorothea graduated from high school and entered a photo studio to learn the basics of photography. Working there was the first step that shaped her future path in photography.
Dorothea Lange
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«Through her photographs Dorothea Lange emphasized the human dignity of people who were poor, displaced, and humiliated by the crisis, showing them not as victims but as individuals with strength and pride. Her camera became a tool of empathy rather than observation.».
In 1915, at the age of 20, she married the artist Maynard Dixon. They soon moved to San Francisco where Dorothea established her own studio. In 1925 their first child Daniel Dixon was born, in 1929 Lange gave birth to her second and last child named John.
However, Lange's family happiness was not long and the couple went through many hardships. The hardest period was Great Depression of 1929-1930s. Shortly before, a series of mass robberies took place throughout the city, and with the onset of the Great Depression, to save money on everything, the family began living right in Dorothea's studio.
It was then that she began to shoot reportages of the demonstrations, the effects of the crisis and the migrant workers in the Salinas Valley. Those photographs brought Lange instant fame, but they were also the reason of her divorce. She was constantly traveling and could not spend much time with her family. One day she was suddenly called to San Francisco to document another demonstration. This hasty departure in the middle of a planned and infrequent family vacation was the last straw and in 1935 the couple divorced.
That same year Dorothea married economist Paul Taylor. He told her about the origins of the social and economic problems prevailing in the country, and thereafter often traveled with her.
However, Lange's family happiness was not long and the couple went through many hardships. The hardest period was Great Depression of 1929-1930s. Shortly before, a series of mass robberies took place throughout the city, and with the onset of the Great Depression, to save money on everything, the family began living right in Dorothea's studio.
It was then that she began to shoot reportages of the demonstrations, the effects of the crisis and the migrant workers in the Salinas Valley. Those photographs brought Lange instant fame, but they were also the reason of her divorce. She was constantly traveling and could not spend much time with her family. One day she was suddenly called to San Francisco to document another demonstration. This hasty departure in the middle of a planned and infrequent family vacation was the last straw and in 1935 the couple divorced.
That same year Dorothea married economist Paul Taylor. He told her about the origins of the social and economic problems prevailing in the country, and thereafter often traveled with her.
Let us go back to Lange's career as a photographer. Her early work in the late 20-s mostly involved shooting commercial portrait photographs but at the onset of the crisis she was forced to turn her lens from the studio to the street. She gained great experience in documenting acute social protests, it was thanks to her that social documentary photography emerged as a distinct genre.
It is important to note that she did not make photographs to promote her own name in photography; actually, it was a very intensive and almost daily social work. Basically, she herself was a semi-immigrant hired employee who traveled around numerous labor camps in search of good images. This work was all the more difficult for her because she had a disability but nevertheless she was most of the time outside in the heat looking for people to photograph, talk to them, record all the data, and then returning to the studio and endlessly developing films. However, this was the same reason she took this job - she felt just like these people and wanted to help them in any way she could. Through the photographs she emphasised the human dignity of her models, even though they were poor, humiliated and insulted by their state.
It is important to note that she did not make photographs to promote her own name in photography; actually, it was a very intensive and almost daily social work. Basically, she herself was a semi-immigrant hired employee who traveled around numerous labor camps in search of good images. This work was all the more difficult for her because she had a disability but nevertheless she was most of the time outside in the heat looking for people to photograph, talk to them, record all the data, and then returning to the studio and endlessly developing films. However, this was the same reason she took this job - she felt just like these people and wanted to help them in any way she could. Through the photographs she emphasised the human dignity of her models, even though they were poor, humiliated and insulted by their state.
«It's very hard to photograph a proud man against a background like that, because it doesn't show what he's proud about. I had to get my camera to register things that were more important than how poor they were – their pride, their strength, their spirit».
Lange focused not only on depicting migrant camps in the 1940-s but she also created a series of works capturing life in the internment camps for Japanese Americans.
After bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment throughout the United States and all Japanese Americans, regardless of political preferences, were relocated to special isolation camps. But Dorothea and her husband were among the few who did not accept the situation and openly demonstrated their resentment. During those times, they had been driving around these camps capturing Americans and Japanese, showing the senselessness and inhumanity of this policy.
After bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment throughout the United States and all Japanese Americans, regardless of political preferences, were relocated to special isolation camps. But Dorothea and her husband were among the few who did not accept the situation and openly demonstrated their resentment. During those times, they had been driving around these camps capturing Americans and Japanese, showing the senselessness and inhumanity of this policy.
In 1936 Dorothea Lange took a photograph that brought her worldwide fame. The image was titled Migrant Mother. The photograph shows Florence Thompson close-up portrait with her family on a seasonal labor trip. Staying temporarily in a migrant labor camp, she waited for the older men of her family, who had gone to sell car tires so they would have some money. It was in this camp that Lange found the woman and her seven younger children. The picture of a desperate woman with absent gaze holding a baby as two more children huddle close looking away from the camera became the iconic image of the Great Depression and at the same time caused a huge scandal.
The photo was published along with an article about the lack of food in the labor camp. The government administration immediately sent large quantities of supplies, but it was too late - the Thompson family was no longer there.
In her later years, Dorothea Lange traveled extensively with her husband to Third World countries. She passed away at the age of 70, leaving a wealth of material that shows the willpower and pride of small people with big hearts and hopes.
The photo was published along with an article about the lack of food in the labor camp. The government administration immediately sent large quantities of supplies, but it was too late - the Thompson family was no longer there.
In her later years, Dorothea Lange traveled extensively with her husband to Third World countries. She passed away at the age of 70, leaving a wealth of material that shows the willpower and pride of small people with big hearts and hopes.