Dorothea Lange

1
Dorothea Lange
Bekie Smith

• Physical Strife
• Emotional Photography
• American Journalism Icon

2
Life and Strife

• May 26, 1895 Born
• 1902 Contracted Polio
• 1912 Dropped out of school
• 1920 First Marriage
• 1936 Second Marriage
• 1964 Diagnosed with terminal cancer
• Oct 11, 1965 Died

3
Emotional Photography

• Lange believed body language was more suggestive
  of meaning than facial expression (Fahlman, 45)
• Lange said of her mentor, Arnold Genthe, He made
  pictures that went below the surface and his
  picture would find the light he found inside her

4
White Angel Bread Line

• Langes first out-of- the studio photograph
• Depicts poor, out of work people waiting to
  receive food being given out by a wealthy woman
  at the onset of the Great Depression

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Migrant Mother
Lange did not arrive at this final composition
by accident, but by patient experimentation with
various poses

• Photographed while on assignment
• Working as a salaried employee of the RA

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Arkansas Girl

• Arkansas girl in a migrant camp in California
• Auto camp filled almost completely with
  Arkansawyers
• Rent 10/month for a 1 room, iron bed, and
  electric light

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Arkansas Mother
Came to California for a new start

• Eleven children and husband came with her
• Later she became a rural rehabilitation client

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Family
Farm Security Administration (FSA) Migratory
labor camp
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American Journalism Icon

• Her empathy for the particular plight of women
  is evident in the way she captured the expressive
  body language of those who struggled to survive
  under the most adverse living and working
  conditions

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American Journalism Icon

• Dorothea Lange A Visual Life
• A movie depicting her life and photographic
  accomplishments

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You Tube
Jenny Interviews Dorothea Lange
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Works Cited

• Meltzer, Milton. Dorothea Lange Life Through
  the Camera. New York, NYViking Kestrel, 1985.
• Dorothea Lange. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dor
  othea_Lange
• Curtis, James C. Dorothea Lange, Migrant
  Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression.
  Winterhur Portfolio Vol.21 NO.1 (Spring 1986)
  1-20. JSTOR. Helmke Library, IPFW. 13 March 2007.
  http//links.jstor.org/
• Fahlman, Betsy. Reviewed Works Womens Art
  Journal Vol.18 No.1 (Spring-Summer 1997) 43-46.
  JSTOR. Helmke Library, IPFW. 13 March 2007.
  http//links.jstor.org/
• Orvell, Miles. Reviewed Works The Journal of
  American
• History Vol.82 No.3 (Dec 1995) 1321. JSTOR.
  Helmke
• Library, IPFW. 13 March 2007. http//links.jstor.
  org/