White Angel Breadline, San Francisco (1933) by Dorothea LangeSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
Meet the woman who showed America the consequences of the Great Depression
Dorothea Lange was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist. Though she had never used or owned a camera, Lange was adamant she would become a photographer when she graduated high school in the early 1900s.
Having studied photography at Columbia University in New York City, the photographer found herself settled in San Francisco and worked as a photo finisher at a photographic supply shop. Here she met an investor who made it possible for Lange to open her own portrait studio in the city, which supported her and her family for the next 15 years.
The onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s caused Lange to turn her camera lens from the studio to the street. She embarked on studies of unemployed and homeless people, and caught the attention of the federal Resettlement Administration (RA), which went on to be known as the Farm Security Administration (FSA), and they employed her as a photographer in 1935. The department was set up to combat American rural poverty and Lange’s work humanized the consequences of the Great Depression and influenced the development of documentary photography.
Here we showcase the images that established Lange as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.
1. White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, 1933
White Angel Breadline, San Francisco by Dorothea Lange (From the collection of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
2. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936
Migrant Mother, Nipoma, California (1936, printed 1976) by Dorothea LangeThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange (From the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)
3. Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, Oklahoma, 1936
Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, Oklahoma (1936) by Dorothea LangeGeorge Eastman Museum
Damaged Child, Shacktown, Oklahoma by Dorothea Lange (From the collection of George Eastman Museum)
4. Ex-Slave With Long Memory, Alabama, 1937
Ex-Slave with Long Memory, Alabama (1937) by Dorothea LangeGeorge Eastman Museum
Ex-Slave With Long Memory, Alabama by Dorothea Lange (From the collection of George Eastman Museum)
5. Six Tenant Farmers Without Farms, Hardeman County, Texas, 1937
Six Tenant Farmers without Farms, Hardeman County, Texas (May 1937, printed 1976) by Dorothea LangeThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Six Tenant Farmers Without Farms by Dorothea Lange (From the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)