Dorothea Lange

 A Documentary Photographer

White Angel Breadline, San Francisco
Dorothea Lange, 1933

    Looking through the Google Arts and Culture website, the form of art that stood out most to me is the photograph White Angel Breadline taken by Dorothea Lange. This photograph, as a gift from Dorothea Lange's second husband, is now part of the Oakland Museum of California, a photograph taken in the year 1933 during the era of the Great Depression in the United States that started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930's. Having learned of the Great Depression era, this picture was really captivating in that the artist was able to capture what poverty and struggle looked like. This photo was taken outside of a soup kitchen where a lot of hungry people gathered in hopes of getting a meal (Google Arts and Culture). The kitchen was run by Lois Jordan the "white angel" hence the title of the photograph the White Angel Breadline.

Dorothea Lange was an artist most known for her Depression Era photos, she had a career span of four decades. Living in San Francisco, at the age of 23 she opened her own portrait studio that would go under at the start of the Great Depression in 1929 when the stock market crashed. In that studio she met her husband Maynard Dixon whom she later divorced turning her to the streets where she would take up photographing. This then lead her to her work with Farm Security Administration as a documentary photographer, later meeting her second husband Paul S. Taylor where they would continue their work together.

In an article called "Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and The Culture of the Great Depression" written by James C. Curtis, the author explains the start of artist Lange's work and her life. Farm Security Administration a government organization, employed artist Dorothea Lange where she went on to create her most famous photograph series Migrant Mother in 1936. Lange created her work as part of her job for the government project consisting of gathering evidence of worn-out lands as a source of agrarian poverty (Curtis, 2). Even though taking photos such as White Angel and Migrant Mother was part of her job Lange also incorporated her personal values and cause. She was a woman who participated in labor strikes and protest. As well as a women who was able to show what society was like during her lifetime through her artwork. 

Migrant Mother
Dorothea Lange, 1936

Creating this blog post and looking at art work virtually, was a new and good experience. I was able to look through many different art works and not just Dorothea Lange, the artist I chose to write about. I was able to look at a lot of different works at my own pace and take time to observe more of what drew my attention. Of all the artworks I viewed, I chose artist Lange because her photographs drew my attention on a whole other level. I feel like I could really get a sense, understanding, and empathize with her photographs. I was able to connect with the photographs especially the Depression Era work. Her photographs from that time expressed poverty and struggle. Personally, I think there is beauty in struggle and her photos have that. I think struggle can really break or make a person, everyone's' struggles gets them to where they need to be. Life's a journey and Dorothea Lange through her journey as an artist, was able to achieve fame and acknowledgement through her great work.

Works Cited

Curtis, James C. “Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression.” Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 21, no. 1, 1986, pp. 1–20. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1181013. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020.

Dorothea Lange | Dorothea Lange Biography with Photo Gallery | American Masters | PBS

White Angel Breadline, San Francisco - Dorothea Lange — Google Arts & Culture