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Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
(1895–1965)
Born Dorothea Nutzhorn in Hoboken, New Jersey on May 26, 1895, she was the daughter of Joan Lange and Henry Nutzhorn. Dorothea developed polio in 1902, at age 7. Like many other polio victims before treatment was available, she emerged with a weakened right leg, and a permanent limp. When she was 12 years old, her father abandoned her and her mother, leading her to drop her middle and last names and adopt her mother’s maiden name.
Lange was educated in photography in New York City, in a class taught by Clarence H. White. She was informally apprenticed to several New York photography studios, including that of the famed Arnold Genthe. In 1918, she moved to San Francisco, and by the following year she had opened a successful portrait studio. She lived across the bay in Berkeley for the rest of her life. In 1920, she married the noted western painter Maynard Dixon, with whom she had two sons.
With the onset of the Great Depression, Lange turned her camera lens from the studio to the street. Her studies of unemployed and homeless people captured the attention of local photographers and led to her employment with the federal Resettlement Administration (RA), later called the Farm Security Administration (FSA). In December 1935, she divorced Dixon and married agricultural economist Paul Schuster Taylor, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. Together they documented rural poverty and the exploitation of sharecroppers and migrant laborers for the next five years. From 1935 to 1939, Lange’s work for the RA and FSA brought the plight of the poor and forgotten to public attention. Distributed free to newspapers across the country, her poignant images became icons of the era. After Lange left government employment, she photographed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, in an attempt to bring their plight to public opinion. At the end of her life, Lange traveled throughout Asia and Europe photographing the people and cultures she encountered.
The work of Dorothea Lange is featured in these exhibitions.
(Select the image to view the exhibition page)
Southern Heritage – Preview
Dorothea Lange and Her Impact
Pirkle Jones & Friends
Viewpoints
Peter Sekaer – In Context
Politics and the Utopian Dream
Death Of A Valley
The work of Dorothea Lange is featured in these Theme Collections.
(Select the image to view the theme page)
American South
American West
Animals
Asia
Historical
Dorothea Lange on PBS
Pleased to pass along information about the new documentary on the life of Dorothea Lange directed by Lange’s granddaughter Dyanna Taylor. The film was aired locally in Atlanta, on Georgia Public Television – Channel 8, Sunday August 31st at 12:30 pm. More information can be found on the link below to the American Masters web site. Currently there are no other scheduled airings in Atlanta. You can watch it on-line – follow the American Master link below.
Also a book with the same title, by Elizabeth Partridge was produced in conjunction with the film and published last year. It is available on Amazon.
American Masters — Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning premiered nationwide Friday, August 29 at 9-11 pm on PBS explores the life, passions and uncompromising vision of the influential photographer, whose enduring images document five turbulent decades of American history, including the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II Japanese internment camps. Peabody- and five-time Emmy award-winning cinematographer Dyanna Taylor — the granddaughter of Lange and writer/social scientist Paul Schuster Taylor — directs and narrates this intimate American Masters documentary.
Dorothea Lange and Her Impact
High Museum of Art, Hill Auditorium
Film Screening and Panel Discussion, featuring John Dixon (Dorothea Lange’s son), Filmmaker Tom Ropelewski, and Jennifer McFarland. The program featured a “preview” from “Child of Giants,” a documentary by Tom Ropelewski. The film centers on the life and family relationships of Dorothea Lange and her husband, noted painter, Maynard Dixon, as seen through the eyes of their son, Daniel Dixon. The preview included commentary by Daniel and John Dixon. Segments also included observations with photographers Rondal Partridge and Christina Gardner, who worked intimately in the field with Lange. Lumière was pleased to host the event with the High Museum’s Curator of Photography, Julian Cox.
The event was also a collaborative effort with Atlanta Celebrates Photography.
Above is a trailer of the film which was completed and released the following year in 2010.
More information can be found on the web page, Child Of Giants.com
Dorothea Lange on PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
November 24, 2009
View Jeffery Brown’s interview of Linda Gordon about her recently published book Dorothea Lange, A Life Beyond Limits. Linda Gordon is the Florence Kelley Professor of History at New York University. She is the author of numerous books of history and has been the recipient of the Bancroft Prize. This segment originally aired on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on November 23, 2009
