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Artist Profiles: Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)

© Wendy Folse

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)

Dorothea was noted for her work of Japanese Immigrants rounded up and placed in camps following the attacks on Pearl Harbor. She was hired by the War Relocation Authority to photograph Japanese neighborhoods, processing centers, and camp facilities. Lange became angry with her employers for the perceived injustices she witnessed in the internment camps.

Through her lens, Dorothea captured the human condition and its vital spirit. Her images touched the hearts of the world and brought with them a greater understanding of the plight of her subjects. Prior to WWII, her worked focused mainly on migrant farm workers during the Great Depression.

The ironic thing about Dorothea Lange is that she never considered herself as an artist. She had a passion for people and her motives were to capture on film the plight of the human spirit. She photographed bread lines, strikers, tenant farmers, the Central Valley, and the Great Plains.

At a time when America was facing some of its greatest challenges, Dorothea Lange was there documenting the changes. Her images left behind a legacy for the entire world to see and her images stand as reminders of the proud spirit that make us Americans.

Lange was fascinated by America's melting pot society and the changes that it underwent. She turned her camera on the racial and ethnic diversity that was and is America and she documented the struggles that change often brings. Her images captured both the positive and the negative. Both the good and the evil that society holds within.

Stricken with Polio at a young age, Dorothea believed that her disabilities gave her a heightened awareness of the plight of others. She overcame her handicap and used her camera to record that same immense spirit that allows people to overcome their own limitations.

However, it was her own immigrant ancestry as a German American that gave her work direction. Dorothea Lange died of cancer in 1965 just prior to the opening of her exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Dorothea Lange has undoubtedly earned her place as a Master of Photography in the 20th Century.

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"You put your camera around your neck along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

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Links of interest:

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