Abstract
Dorothea Lange’s training in traditional pictoralist photography combined with her growing passion for documentary photography allowed her work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression and New Deal era to tell the stories of suffering Americans. While most well-known for her image entitled Migrant Mother, Lange’s work focused on representing her subject(s) with dignity and pride no matter the conditions surrounding them. Lange’s attention to creating authentic images and detailed field notes recorded conditions of migrant famers in the west and sharecroppers in the southwest. Her unique approach to the open ended FSA assignments allowed the FSA to use Lange’s photographs as evidence for the need to remedy the effects of the Great Depression through New Deal programs.
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Dorothea Lange: Capturing the Reality of the Great Depression and New Deal Era
Dorothea Lange’s training in traditional pictoralist photography combined with her growing passion for documentary photography allowed her work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression and New Deal era to tell the stories of suffering Americans. While most well-known for her image entitled Migrant Mother, Lange’s work focused on representing her subject(s) with dignity and pride no matter the conditions surrounding them. Lange’s attention to creating authentic images and detailed field notes recorded conditions of migrant famers in the west and sharecroppers in the southwest. Her unique approach to the open ended FSA assignments allowed the FSA to use Lange’s photographs as evidence for the need to remedy the effects of the Great Depression through New Deal programs.
