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Dorothea LangeAmerican photographer
Date of Birth: 26.05.1895
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Biography of Dorothea Lange
- Photography Career
- Success in San Francisco
- Documenting the Great Depression
- Migrant Mother
- Later Life and Legacy
Biography of Dorothea Lange
Early Life and EducationDorothea Lange was born in 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey, to a well-off and prosperous family. Her parents were second-generation German immigrants, and they named their daughter Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn. When her father left the family, Dorothea shortened her name and took her mother's maiden name. At the age of seven, she contracted polio, which left her with a limp for the rest of her life. Despite the challenges, her mother raised her single-handedly, and they eventually moved to New York City.
Photography Career
It was in New York City where Dorothea, who often walked the streets, began to notice things that she wanted to capture and share with others. This led her to pursue a career in photography. She studied photography at Columbia University in New York, under the mentorship of Clarence H. White. In addition to her formal education, Lange also attended additional courses, including those at Arnold Genthe's studio.
Success in San Francisco
In 1918, Dorothea moved to San Francisco, and by this time, she was already an accomplished photographer, only lacking recognition. However, San Francisco proved to be the turning point in her career. She became a highly sought-after portrait photographer, worked in her own studio, and overall thrived in her profession. In 1920, she married the renowned Western artist Maynard Dixon, and they had two sons together.
Documenting the Great Depression
With the onset of the Great Depression, Lange began to focus more on street photography. The dire circumstances around her provided compelling subjects for her photographs. She divorced Dixon in 1935 and married Paul Schuster Taylor, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Taylor's connections helped Lange secure a position in the government program called the Farm Security Administration (FSA). She documented the lives of the poor, homeless, and immigrant populations, and her photographs were published in reputable national publications.
Migrant Mother
One of Lange's most famous photographs, "Migrant Mother," was captured before she officially joined the FSA program. In 1936, Lange encountered Florence Owens Thompson, an immigrant woman sitting under a makeshift shelter with her children. Although Lange promised Thompson copies of the photographs and assured her that they would not be published, she failed to keep her promises. The photograph of Thompson became iconic, but later, Thompson's children stated that their mother was never a broken and unhappy woman as depicted in the image. Instead, they described her as lively, music-loving, and the photograph brought the family more sorrow than anything else.
Later Life and Legacy
Lange continued her photography career and received the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1944. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she declined the grant and instead worked on documenting the evacuation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. Her photographs of Japanese-American children pledging allegiance to the American flag became highly impactful. In the early 1950s, Lange co-founded the influential photography magazine "Aperture." She taught photography at the California School of Fine Arts and held exhibitions, including one at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1960.
Dorothea Lange's health declined significantly in the last two decades of her life. She suffered from stomach issues and the lasting effects of polio. She passed away on October 11, 1965, at the age of 70, due to esophageal cancer. Her work continued to be recognized posthumously, with exhibitions and honors. In 1972, the Whitney Museum exhibited 27 of her photographs in an exhibition titled "Executive Order 9066," and in 2008, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2006, a school in Nipomo, California, near the location where her iconic photograph "Migrant Mother" was taken, was named in her honor.
