DATES:
May 26, 1895 - 1965
ABOUT HER
Dorothea Lange first became known for her work with migrant workers
and farmworkers during the drought in the dust bowl. Her documentary
style was clearly shown in such photos as "Migrant Mother,"
which has become an icon of the dust bowl migrant experience.
After Pearl Harbor,
Dorothea Lange was hired by the War Relocation Agency to document the
Japanese American prisoners-of-war camps. Her photographs showed how
courageous and dignified the Japanese Americans were in spite of being
held prisoners in their own country solely because of their race. Many
of her photos were censored by her employer, the U.S. government.
Lange's work was
not given much importance until 1972, when the Whitney Museum used her
photographs in an exhibit about the Japanese internment.
New York Times
critic A. D. Coleman called Lange's photographs "documents of such
a high order that they convey the feelings of the victims as well as
the facts of the crime."
QUOTE
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without
a camera."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dorothea Lange: A Visual Life, Elizabeth Partridge (Editor)
Photographing The Second Gold Rush, Charles Wollenberg and Dorothea
Lange
Dorothea Lange and the Bay Area at War,1941-1945, Dorothea Lange,
et al
The Photographs of Dorothea Lange, Dorothea Lange, et al