Behind the Camera: Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on May 26, 1895. Her early life was marked by a number of hardships. At age 7 she contracted polio, leaving her with a permanent limp. When she was 12 her father left the family. This prompted her to adopt her mother’s maiden name, Lange.
During World War I, Lange studied photography at Columbia University in New York. In 1918, she started living in San Francisco and opened a portrait studio. Two years later she married painter Maynard Dixon. During the Great Depression, she started focusing on people of the streets, taking her picture “White Angel Breadline”. This picture attracted the attention of the Resettlement Administration, which she soon started working for.
In the mid 1930s, Lange divorced her husband and married Paul Taylor, who worked as an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Meanwhile, her work for the FSA had led her across California, photographing the homeless and unemployed looking for work.
In 1936, Lange took her most famous picture, “Migrant Mother”. In this picture, Florence Owens Thompson, the woman in the picture, holds her hand to her face with two of her children by her sides. According to Lange, the woman had sold the tires on her car and her family had been living off frozen vegetables and birds the children had killed. Thompson’s son claims Lange got some of the details wrong but suggested she accidentally mixed in details from other stories.
During World War II, Lange started working for the War Relocation Authority. Her assignment was to document the relocation of Japanese Americans into internment camps throughout California. Her travels produced pictures that were so critical of the relocation that the government kept them from the public for over 50 years. Today the pictures are available to be viewed by the public and serve as a reminder of what Japanese-Americans were subjected to during the war.
In 1945, Lange started working for the California School of Fine Arts. in 1952, she helped found the photography magazine Aperture.
Towards the end of her life, Lange dealt with numerous health issues, including gastric problems and post-polio syndrome. On October 11, 1965, Lange died of esophageal cancer at age 70 in San Francisco. After her death, in 1972 the Whitney Museum used 27 of Lange’s pictures in an exhibit focusing on the Japanese-American internment in World War II. In 2006, an elementary school was named after her in Nipomo, California, where she took her “Migrant Mother “ picture. Two years later, she was inducted to the California Hall of Fame, with her son accepting the honor.
During World War I, Lange studied photography at Columbia University in New York. In 1918, she started living in San Francisco and opened a portrait studio. Two years later she married painter Maynard Dixon. During the Great Depression, she started focusing on people of the streets, taking her picture “White Angel Breadline”. This picture attracted the attention of the Resettlement Administration, which she soon started working for.
In the mid 1930s, Lange divorced her husband and married Paul Taylor, who worked as an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Meanwhile, her work for the FSA had led her across California, photographing the homeless and unemployed looking for work.
In 1936, Lange took her most famous picture, “Migrant Mother”. In this picture, Florence Owens Thompson, the woman in the picture, holds her hand to her face with two of her children by her sides. According to Lange, the woman had sold the tires on her car and her family had been living off frozen vegetables and birds the children had killed. Thompson’s son claims Lange got some of the details wrong but suggested she accidentally mixed in details from other stories.
During World War II, Lange started working for the War Relocation Authority. Her assignment was to document the relocation of Japanese Americans into internment camps throughout California. Her travels produced pictures that were so critical of the relocation that the government kept them from the public for over 50 years. Today the pictures are available to be viewed by the public and serve as a reminder of what Japanese-Americans were subjected to during the war.
In 1945, Lange started working for the California School of Fine Arts. in 1952, she helped found the photography magazine Aperture.
Towards the end of her life, Lange dealt with numerous health issues, including gastric problems and post-polio syndrome. On October 11, 1965, Lange died of esophageal cancer at age 70 in San Francisco. After her death, in 1972 the Whitney Museum used 27 of Lange’s pictures in an exhibit focusing on the Japanese-American internment in World War II. In 2006, an elementary school was named after her in Nipomo, California, where she took her “Migrant Mother “ picture. Two years later, she was inducted to the California Hall of Fame, with her son accepting the honor.