Dorothea Lange's America

The Great Depression was the catalyst for a tremendous outburst of creative energy in America’s photographic community. The devastation the country endured inspired a host of socially conscious photographers to capture the painful stories of the time. Dorothea Lange’s America is a focused exhibition of original lifetime prints by the legendary documentary photographer.

Highlighting this exhibition are oversized exhibition prints of her seminal images from the Great Depression, including Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California from 1936—an emblematic picture that came to personify pride and resilience in the face of abject poverty in 1930s America. 

Lange’s photographs will be supplemented by photographs by other notable social documentarians of the era, including Walker Evans, Ben Shahn, Russell Lee, and Mike Disfarmer.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California,1936 (Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age 32) Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection.