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Photographers / Dorothea Lange
Documentary

Dorothea Lange

1895–1965 · United States

The crisis on a human scale.

Explore 10 works ↓
Migrant Mother — Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, California — Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother — Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, California
Dorothea Lange · mars 1936
Dorothea Lange · Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information.
Public domain — fonds FSA/OWI · Reuse conditions · Artwork record

The story

A portrait photographer in San Francisco, Lange turned towards the effects of the Great Depression, photographing migration and working conditions. Her federal assignments combined images with captions intended to make situations visible. Migrant Mother became a celebrated image, arising from a specific encounter and sequence. Her work invites us to examine relationships between empathy, media circulation, public action and the voices of the people photographed.

Understanding the work

Do not stop at a powerful expression. Look for the name, place and complete sequence: the caption and the history of the encounter may shift the meaning.

Key works and series

Migrant Mother; Farm Security Administration photo essays.

Sources & further exploration

A journey through images.

10 works

Click an image to enlarge it. Captions, collections and reuse conditions appear below each work. Captions describe the photographs; the source records retain catalogue titles and provide context.

Migrant Mother — Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, California — Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother — Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, California
Dorothea Lange · mars 1936
Dorothea Lange · Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information.
Public domain — fonds FSA/OWI · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Child in Shack Town by Dorothea Lange, 1936, 8b38490a — Dorothea Lange
Child in Shack Town by Dorothea Lange, 1936, 8b38490a
Dorothea Lange · 1936

Public domain · Artwork record
Broke, baby sick, and car trouble! - Dorothea Langes photo of a Missouri family of five in the vicinity of Tracy, California — Dorothea Lange
Broke, baby sick, and car trouble! - Dorothea Langes photo of a Missouri family of five in the vicinity of Tracy, California
Dorothea Lange / Adam Cuerden · 1937-02

Public domain · Artwork record
Dorothea Lange, Clouds, Utah, c. 1938 — Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange, Clouds, Utah, c. 1938
Dorothea Lange · circa 1938

Public domain · Artwork record
Dorothea Lange - Unemployed lumber 02 — Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange - Unemployed lumber 02
Dorothea Lange for Farm Security Administration · August 1939

Public domain · Artwork record
Florence Owens Thompson and her children in their tent, Nipomo, 1936 — side view — Dorothea Lange
Florence Owens Thompson and her children in their tent, Nipomo, 1936 — side view
Dorothea Lange · 1936-03-01

Public domain · Artwork record
Dorothea Lange, Dust storm near Mills, New Mexico, 1935 — Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange, Dust storm near Mills, New Mexico, 1935
Dorothea Lange · 1935-05

Public domain · Artwork record
Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, 1936 — close view — Dorothea Lange
Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, 1936 — close view
Dorothea Lange · 1936-03-01

Public domain · Artwork record
A family of farm workers outside their tent, Nipomo, 1936 — Dorothea Lange
A family of farm workers outside their tent, Nipomo, 1936
Dorothea Lange · 1936-03

Public domain · Artwork record
Florence Owens Thompson and her child, Nipomo, 1936 — Migrant Mother series — Dorothea Lange
Florence Owens Thompson and her child, Nipomo, 1936 — Migrant Mother series
Dorothea Lange · 1936 Feb. or Mar.

Public domain · Artwork record

Works in collections.

11 records

Photographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.

  1. MoMA · 1933

    White Angel Bread Line, San Francisco

    Gelatin silver print

  2. MoMA · March 1936

    Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California

    Gelatin silver print, printed 1949

  3. MoMA · c. 1915

    Dorothea Lange's Mother

    Gelatin silver print, printed 1965

  4. MoMA · c. 1936-1938

    Untitled (Oklahoma)

    Gelatin silver print, printed 1965

  5. MoMA · June 1938

    The Road West, New Mexico

    Gelatin silver print

  6. MoMA · 1938

    Mother and Child, San Joaquin Valley

    Gelatin silver print

  7. MoMA · April 6, 1942

    Just About to Step into the Bus for the Assembly Center, San Francisco

    Gelatin silver print, printed 1965

  8. MoMA · 1953

    Mormon Couple

    Gelatin silver print

  9. MoMA · 1955

    Winters, California

    Gelatin silver print, printed 1965

  10. MoMA · 1958

    Vietnamese Mother

    Gelatin silver print

  11. Library of Congress · mars 1936

    Migrant Mother — Florence Owens Thompson and her children, Nipomo, California

    Photograph — FSA/OWI collection

Other perspectives.

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