Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange is best known for documenting the American Great Depression for the Farm Security Administration: the living conditions in rural areas of the United States, the painful poverty of farmers and their families moving from place to place in search of work, the abandonment of the countryside caused by sandstorms that had desertified farmland. Her photo Migrant Mother, taken in California in 1936, has become an icon of that historical period. In her images, Lange focuses not only on the desperation and misery of people, but also on the pride and dignity with which they face their destiny. This is perhaps the reason why her photos are always relevant.
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Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
United States, 2014
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Dorothea Lange was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1895.
She later attended Columbia University in New York and studied photography under Clarence H. White. From 1917 to 1919, she worked as a freelance photographer in San Francisco and opened a studio. In the summer of 1923, she travelled extensively throughout Arizona with her first husband, the painter Maynard Dixon, where she photographed the Hopi Indians; together with Maynard and their two children, she moved to Taos in New Mexico in 1931. Several years later, she began working with economist Paul Taylor who introduced her into the Farm Security Administration programme. The two were married in 1935 and worked together on a book, entitled American Exodus with texts by Taylor and photos by Lange, which documented the exodus of more than 300,000 migrants to California in search of farm work. In 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the WRA (War Relocation Authority) hired Lange to photograph the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps because of suspected loyalty to their ancestral land. During the 1950s, she photographed various assignments for LIFE magazine and took part in an ambitious project, The Family of Man, curated by Edward Steichen, director of the MoMA Photography Department. She continued to work and travel together with Paul Taylor visiting various countries: Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt. She died 11 October, 1965. Some months later, in January of 1966, an extensive retrospective of her photographs was inaugurated at MoMA, the first ever dedicated to a woman photographer.
In 2016 Studio Trisorio curated the Dorothea Lange solo show A Visual Life. From February 9 to May 9, 2020 another exhibition entitled Words & Pictures was presented at the MoMA.
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Dorothea Lange nasce a Hoboken in New Jersey nel 1895.
Dopo aver frequentato la Columbia University di New York con Clarence H. White, dal 1917 al 1919 lavora come fotografa freelance a San Francisco dove apre uno studio. Nell’estate del 1923 con il primo marito, il pittore Maynard Dixon, compie un lungo viaggio in Arizona, dove fotografa gli indiani Hopi; nel 1931 insieme a Maynard e ai due figli si trasferisce a Taos nel New Mexico. Qualche anno più tardi inizierà a collaborare con l’economista Paul Taylor che la introdurrà nel programma della Farm Security Administration. I due si sposeranno nel 1935 e lavoreranno insieme al libro American Exodus che documenta, con testi di Taylor e foto della Lange, l'esodo di più di 300.000 immigrati in California alla ricerca di lavori agricoli. Nel 1942, in seguito all’attacco giapponese di Pearl Harbor, la WRA (War Relocation Authority) incaricherà la Lange di fotografare la deportazione forzata dei nippo-americani isolati nei campi di internamento perché considerati possibili nemici. Negli anni cinquanta realizzerà diversi servizi per LIFE magazine e prenderà parte all’ambizioso progetto The Family of Man curato da Edward Steichen direttore del dipartimento di fotografia del MoMA. Continuerà a lavorare e viaggiare insieme a Paul Taylor visitando diversi paesi del mondo: Giappone, Korea, Hong Kong, Filippine, Thailandia, Indonesia, Burma, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egitto. Morirà l’11 ottobre 1965. Qualche mese più tardi, nel gennaio 1966, sarà inaugurata al MoMA una vasta retrospettiva delle sue fotografie, la prima dedicata a una fotografa donna.
Nel 2016 lo Studio Trisorio ha curato la mostra di Dorothea Lange A Visual Life. Dal 9 febbraio al 9 maggio 2020, ancora al MoMa, è stata presentata una sua mostra dal titolo Words & Pictures.
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