Photography Great: Dorothea Lange
Iconic Photographer Who Prompted the Social Conscience of a Nation.
Dorothea Lange's photography had significant social impact in its time and leaves a powerful historical record of human suffering in the Great Depression
Lange captured on film images of the plight of America’s displaced farmers and migrant workers in California in the middle of the Great Depression in the 1930’s. This same suffering and hardship of refugees from the drought stricken mid-western dust bowl formed the basis for John Steinbeck’s masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath.
The stark reality and the honesty of Lange’s work still resonates today and reaffirms the power of black and white images to convey mood and feeling.
The Farm Security Administration, a government agency, commissioned Lange’s work and they distributed the images free to newspapers around the country. In an age before television, video clips, and sound bites, photography enjoyed greater importance in capturing the world and conveying a powerful message.
An attack of polio marred Lange’s childhood and left her with a limp, which earned her the predictable but cruel nickname of “Limpy” from other children. Then her father left the family when Lange was twelve, adding economic hardship to the young Lange’s physical handicap.
Little wonder in adult life she had empathy for the poor and the victimized. Lange established herself as a portrait photographer for the affluent in San Francisco until she took her camera long on a trip with her first husband in Arizona and the plight of the Native Americans made an impression on her. The onset of the Great Depression moved Lange to take her camera out of the studio and start documenting San Francisco’s poor and hungry.
Lange teamed up with an economist from the University of California, Paul Taylor, later to become her second husband, to investigate and document the conditions of migrant workers. This grew to include refugees from the dustbowl and Lange’s five picture essay, Migrant Mother, shot in Nipomo California in 1936 went on to become an iconic image of the times. Lange approached her subjects, established a rapport, and put them at ease before shooting. This may account for the naturalness and honesty of the images. Her deformity may have been a boon on these occasions as it marked her as an outsider, like them.
During the Second World War Lange recorded the rounding and transportation of people to camps where United States citizens were imprisoned by their country because of their racial background. The picture of a group of young girls pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States, before they were sent to a camp is an image that has not lost its impact.
Lange’s images helped move the conscience of the country resulting in relief programs. She and her fellow photographers of the time established documentary photography and photojournalism as powerful forces in political and social struggle. They also left a legacy of a visual historical record of the time.
Reference:
Dorothea Lange. Photographs Of A Lifetime. New York: Aperture Foundation, 1982, reprinted 1995
