Dorothea Lange, born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn, was an American photographer. She was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on May 26th, 1895. She is known for her photojournalism and documentary style works. Her most famous work is Migrant Mother.
At the age of 7, Dorothea contracted polio, leaving her with a permanent limp due to a weakened leg. Five years later, her father abandoned the family, prompting them to leave New Jersey and move to a low income area in New York City. This was also the reason she ended up dropping her father’s last name taking on her mother’s maiden name, Lange.
Lange began studying photography at Columbia University and later held multiple informal apprenticeships at various New York photography studios.
Her early work focused on photographing the upper class in San Francisco. However, once the Great Depression came around, she decided to start photographing the impoverished, migrant workers on the streets of California. Her work was the first in the field of “documentary” photography.
Lange’s photography brought attention to the suffering of the lower class, being used in newspapers that were distributed throughout the country. The photograph, Migrant Mother, brought attention to a specific camp in which this mother and her children were staying. In response, the government sent aid to these people.
Lange’s work really moved me. I found out about her a long time ago, but I never looked into who she really was. Her life and her work is inspiring, and the fact that her photographs brought about change gives me hope that maybe we, as artists, can do something similar today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Lange
https://www.moma.org/artists/3373
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1x2lvddQPimNuFeIs7jKAaNedzMd_JeL8?usp=sharing