Dorothea Lange
1895 – 1965
The photographer who gave the Great Depression a human face
About Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn on May 26, 1895, in Hoboken, New Jersey, to second-generation German immigrants. At age seven, she contracted polio, which left her with a permanent limp in her right leg—a physical characteristic she later credited with shaping her empathetic eye and ability to connect with marginalized subjects.
Read full biography →From the Collection
Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant camp. Westley,…
1939
Young migrant mother who lives in one of the tents.…
1939
Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven…
1936
Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry…
1936
Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry…
1936
Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry…
1936
Notable Works
Migrant Mother
Perhaps the most reproduced photograph in history, this image of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in a California pea-pickers' camp came to symbolize the Great Depression. Lange took six…
View related photographs →White Angel Breadline
This photograph of unemployed men waiting for free food in San Francisco marked Lange's transition from portrait photographer to documentarian. A single figure in a worn hat turns away from the…
View related photographs →Toward Los Angeles, California
Two men walk along a desolate highway toward Los Angeles, their backs to the camera, a massive billboard above them advertising train travel. The ironic juxtaposition of luxury advertising with…
View related photographs →Timeline
Born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn in Hoboken, New Jersey on May 26
Contracts polio at age seven, resulting in permanent limp in right leg
Father abandons family; takes mother's maiden name, Lange
Studies photography under Arnold Genthe in New York City
Studies with Clarence H. White at Columbia University
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
— Dorothea Lange