Dorothea Lange’s Memoir
Table of Contents
A woman of a migrant background who is a mother.
The famed photographer Dorothea Lange was born in 1885 and passed away in 1965.
Lange has documented life, why she is important
Mother of Migrants
Dorothea Lange’s image will forever be associated with me. In my second year of History, I was watching a documentary about The Great Depression. This is the first time I ever saw it. It had such an impact that I can still see it every day with the same clarity and detail that I saw it in that documentary.
You can tell the history by the clothing, expression and despair on the mother’s face, even if you don’t know the context. Even though she is old and tired, you can still see her strength and determination. It is a lesson to all those who are fortunate. Lange’s patience and great skills as a portrait photographer were rewarded by this amazing photograph. The Migrant Mom captures the worry of a tired mother in the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange (1885-1965). Lange was a teacher’s student when she first discovered photography. Clarence White was her mentor at Columbia, and she helped her to start her own business. While raising her family, she opened a photography studio in San Francisco. She began to document the suffering of the poor in San Francisco during the 1930s depression. Paul Taylor was an economist and activist who saw these photographs. He convinced her to help the migrant workers.
In 1935, she joined Roy Stryker’s incredibly talented photography team in the Resettlement Administration. Later, it was renamed to the Farm Security Administration. Walker Evans, Ben Shahns, Arthur Rothsteins, Russel Lee, Carl Mydans and Russel Lee made some of the greatest social documentary ever produced. You can trace the heritage right down to great photographers like Sebastio Slgardo.
The unit survived to 1942 when it was overwhelmed by WWII. Lange left full-time work in 1937 but continued occasional work until the unit’s demise.
She worked and exhibited until her death in 1965. Her fame, however, is due to those three remarkable years between 1935 and 1937.
How Lange Documented Her Life and Why It’s Important
Dorothea Lange’s photographs of poor and destitute South African sharecroppers and those who moved west to seek a better future are what will be remembered.
The classic image of the dustbowl era is her portrait of a Migrant Mom, Nipoma (California), 1935. Lange’s work can be seen in several versions of the famous image.
America was undergoing huge changes and Lange was there for them. An explanation placard in San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art says that “farm tenancy had essentially replaced slave labor by the 1930s. This made Black tenants as vulnerable to landlords as well as reinforcing poverty and dependency.” This is where the causes of migration became apparent: the poverty caused by the undernourished and overused soil, the insatiable desire of farmers for a quick buck rather than living in harmony and sustainability of the land, and finally, Roosevelt’s gradual introduction of large-scale farm equipment, often funded through his various programs that help poor farmers. Lange documented this change.
It’s no surprise that the population moved again after the Second World War.
The Lange exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art can be divided into four categories and three rooms: San Francisco, the Central Valley, Changes, Rural America, The War Years, After the War, and The War Years.
California was the result of the displacement of farm workers who moved to California in the 1930s. In the 40s, there was a mass immigration of southerners to California to take the many available wartime jobs in this port-city.
The Kaiser shipyards at Richmond made 727 vessels during World War II. This included one-fifth our Liberty Ships. The Anthony Wayne was finished in four days. After a long day of work, 42 happy workers have gathered to line up for paycheck Richmond Shipyard.
People worked shifts due to housing shortages. They also slept shifts. This problem is clearly illustrated by several images No Rooms: Camp, Richmond CA 1944 and El Cerrito Auto Camps, Richmond California, 1943. Day Sleeper, Richmond, 1942. Many businesses had open hours to support the defense workers. It was non-stop. Cafe, MacDonald Street Richmond (California), 1942. Young woman standing proudly in front The Richmond Cafe wearing her evening furs in the middle-of-the-day.
Before the war, Richmond’s population was just 20,000. Over 100,000 people were employed by Kaiser Shipyard to build freighters. The community felt the impact of this event.
Lange was drawn to the human aspects of this revolution, particularly by the diversity of races and cultures that were present in Richmond. Lange enjoyed the excitement and novelty of the experience and saw it as a premonition for the future.
Fortune Magazine had Richmond photographed in the Lange show. This 1944 article described a 24-hour event at Richmond’s Kaiser Shipyard.
Ansel Adam was Dorothea Lange’s associate in this assignment. They appear to be an odd couple. Adams is known for his grandiose landscapes, in particular Yosemite National Park. Their styles of work were also different.
Dorothea Lange looked almost invisibly as she walked around taking photos. Ansel Adam, however, caught attention with his ten-gallon camera and bushy facial hair. While he was setting up his bulky equipment for photography, crowds surrounded him. Dorothea Lange took more people photos than Ansel Adams during this assignment.
Lange’s influence can clearly be seen in Adams photograph, Trailer park Children, Richmond, California. 1944. This is part of the companion series Friends and Contemporaries, Documentary Photography Northern California. Adams captures the lyrical portraits of three children.
There were times when life wasn’t always as peaceful as in Relationship #2 Girl/Boy, Richmond California 1944 MacDonald Avenue. The tension between the unhappy and happy couple can be felt at Trailer Park Camp in Richmond, 1944.
Dorothea was inspired by the Farm Security Administration of 1933 to create a project to study how society changes from small rural communities into urban mass cultures. This dream Dorothea never realized.
Lange documented Richmond and also captured changes in the Bay Area. Bill Board Pleasanton CA, 1945. A large vacant field with a real-estate sign. While I think the hills look similar today, I am sure that the fields have changed.
You can see Dorothea Lange was a prolific photographer, capturing many events with her camera. She also showed us her views on society. Although I haven’t listed her photographs, I feel she has shown us why she is so important in the field of arts photography. To be considered important, your work must have had an impact on many people. Lange definitely has done so. Lange took photographs during times of normal change and all things were changing. Dorothea Lange’s work has made an impression on Americans and is an important figure in the arts world.
“While one province can’t tell us much more about a place than what our eyes see, there’s another where it does.”
Dorothea Lange took pictures that had a powerful impact.
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