File

Writing Station –
Dorothea Lange Photos
1.
Read Dorothea Lange’s Biography and
discuss main points.
2. Analyze and discuss 3 different photos
individually using the questions on the list.
3.
Choose one photo and write a journal
making pretend you are one of the
subjects (people). Think about all you
know about the Great Depression and
include details concerning the life of the
subject.
OR
Write a poem reflecting details about the
photo.
"Bring the viewer to your side, include him in your thought. He is not a bystander. You have the power to
increase his perceptions and conceptions."
Dorothea Lange
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/dorothea-lange/watch-full-film-dorothealange-grab-a-hunk-of-lightning/3260/
DOROTHEA LANGE SYNOPSIS
Dorothea Lange's images of Depression-era America made her
one of the most acclaimed documentary photographers of the
twentieth century. She is remembered above all for revealing the
plight of sharecroppers, displaced farmers and migrant workers in
the 1930s, and her portrait of Florence Owens Thompson,
Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936), has become an icon
of the period. Since much of this work was carried out for a
government body, the Farm Security Administration, it has been
an unusual test case of American art being commissioned
explicitly to drive government policy. After the Depression she
went on to enjoy an illustrious career in photo-journalism during
its hey-day, working for leading magazines such as Fortune and
Life, and traveling widely throughout Asia, Latin America, and
Egypt. She was instrumental in assembling the "Family of Man"
exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1959, a
renowned celebration of struggling post-war humanity.
DOROTHEA LANGE KEY IDEAS
Many of Lange's documentary photographs borrow techniques
from the lexicon of modernism - dramatic angles and dynamic
compositions - to produce startling and often jarring images of
her subjects. They never overpower the subjects themselves, but
instead subtly direct the viewer to a fresh appreciation of the
individual's plight.
Lange's mature work proved that works of art and documents are
not mutually exclusive, and that they can combine to produce
beautiful, moving, and campaigning images. Her use of
innovative techniques also proved that modernist art need not
only convey the private feelings of the artist, but could also be
put in the services of popular journalism.
Lange's work, not only in the Depression but also in the post-war
years, is characteristic of a lost age when a broad swath of the
mass media was profoundly concerned with social issues. She
saw herself firstly as a journalist and secondly as an artist, and
she worked with a burning desire to effect social change by
informing the public of suffering far away.
Article from: http://www.theartstory.org/artist-langedorothea.htm
Dorothea Lange’s Photos -
Discuss for at least 3 photos.
1. What impression or feelings do you get from
the photo?
2. List observable details from the photo (color,
things, people, objects, etc.).
3. Is there a theme or deeper message?
4. What can you infer?
5. What questions do you still have?
Migrant Mother 1936
Sharecroppers
White Angel Bread Line, San Francisco 1933
Little Money: Waiting for the semimonthly relief checks
at Calipatria, Imperial Valley, California. Typical story:
fifteen years ago they owned farms in Oklahoma. Lost
them through foreclosure when cotton prices fell after
the war. Became tenants and sharecroppers. With the
drought and dust they came West, 1934-1937. Never
before left the county where they were born. Now
although in California over a year they haven't been
continuously resident in any single county long
enough to become a legal resident. Reason: migratory
agricultural laborers.
Children of Oklahoma drought refugee in migratory camp in California.
Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, Oklahoma 1936
Mended Stockings, Stenographer, San Francisco, 1934
Dust Bowl Refugees 1936