What is the significance of the photo Migrant Mother?
While many of Lange’s intimate portraits of this period resonated with the public, none have had an effect as profound and wide-reaching as Migrant Mother, a photograph taken at the height of the Depression. 5 See the entire Migrant Mother series below. In the 1930s, Lange worked as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration.
Who was the ‘Migrant Mother’?
The "Migrant Mother" photo is iconic — but if the subject had her way, she wouldn't be the face of the Great Depression. In 1936, a very tired 32-year-old mother of seven named Florence Owens sat down with a few of her children in a temporary shelter near the migrants’ camp in Nipomo, California, next to her broken-down car.
How many photos did Lange take of the Migrant Mother?
In ten minutes, Lange snapped six photos of Owens and her children. Together — with the photo above chief among them — these “Migrant Mother” photos became the definitive images of Depression-era poverty and despair.
Where is the oldest photo of Migrant Mother?
Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California ), gelatin silver prints of the photograph remain in some of the world’s major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate. See the entire Migrant Mother series below.
What is the story of the woman in the famous photograph Migrant Mother?
In 1983, Thompson had a stroke. Her children, unable to pay the hospital, used her identity as the Migrant Mother to raise $15,000 in donations. The money helped to defray Thompson's medical bills, but Thompson herself gained nothing. She died soon after her stroke.
Who took the photo Migrant Mother MOMA and why is it significant?
Meet the master artist through one of her most important works. Photographer Dorothea Lange, whose picture Migrant Mother is one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century, believed it was important to lead a “visual life.”
What is the Migrant Mother looking at?
Migrant MotherMediumgelatin silver print photographSubjectFlorence Owens ThompsonDimensions28.3 cm × 21.8 cm (11.1 in × 8.6 in)LocationMuseum of Modern Art, New York4 more rows
Who took the Migrant Mother photo?
Dorothea Lange'sDorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection. Discover more about an iconic image from the Farm Security Administration Collection.
What was the purpose of Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photo?
Dorothea Lange took this photograph in 1936, while employed by the U.S. government's Farm Security Administration (FSA) program, formed during the Great Depression to raise awareness of and provide aid to impoverished farmers.
Was the Migrant Mother photo staged?
Along with staging the scene, it turns out that there was very little spontaneity in Lange's image that soon became iconic. But does it diminish the power of this image? According to the Nerdwriter, being able to see the steps of Lange's process even enhances her work.
Where is the original Migrant Mother photograph?
"Migrant Mother," by Dorothea Lange | National Museum of American History.
Why was Langes Migrant Mother chosen to represent a lesson on migrant workers?
Lange's Migrant Mother was chosen to represent a lesson on migrant workers because it is popular, and because it is a truthful depiction of the living conditions and emotional experiences of migrant workers during the Depression.
What famous author and novel was influenced by the picture of the migrant mother?
Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' Inspires The Story Of 'Mary Coin' : NPR. Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' Inspires The Story Of 'Mary Coin' Marisa Silver's new novel imagines the meeting of a Depression-era photographer and her now-iconic subject.
Why do you think Migrant Mother was effective?
Why do you think "Migrant Mother" was effective in persuading people to support FDR's relief programs? Migrant Mother was so effective because the images evoked emotional and depicted the emotions of the depression.
How did the Migrant Mother change the world?
Migrant Mother went on to become the public face of the Dust Bowl migrants; help win Lange a Guggenheim fellowship in 1941; adorn U.S. postage stamps; and inspire John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
Who was the photographer who visited the Nipomo camp?
Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress. On the day of the photos, Dorothea Lange was visiting the Nipomo migrants’ camp to document the workers’ lives when she just happened to notice Owens setting up her shelter by the road.
How many photos did Dorothea Lange take of her children?
In ten minutes, Lange snapped six photos of Owens and her children. Together — with the photo above chief among them — these “Migrant Mother” photos became the definitive images of Depression-era poverty and despair. Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress.
Where did Florence Owens live in 1936?
In 1936, a very tired 32-year-old mother of seven named Florence Owens sat down with a few of her children in a temporary shelter near the migrants’ camp in Nipomo, California, next to her broken-down car. The woman’s boyfriend, Jim, was away for several hours with the older two children to get the car’s radiator fixed.
Where was Florence Christie born?
Florence Christie was born in 1903 in what was then the Indian Territory and is now Oklahoma. She never knew her father; he had abandoned Christie’s mother during her pregnancy and never came back. Indian Territory in 1903 wasn’t the place for a single mother with a newborn, and Christie’s mother quickly married a Choctaw man named Charles Akman.
Who introduced herself to Owens?
Hill and the two older boys had a long walk to make into town, and they weren’t expected back before dark, so Owens had started supper. Lange introduced herself, the two women chatted for a while, and Lange took the photos.
Did Lange ask about her past?
According to Owens, Lange promised not to distribute the photos and never asked about her past. Lange’s notes from the meeting read:
Did Lange get details wrong?
Lange got several details wrong, and in later years Owens speculated that the photographer might have confused her with another woman.
What is the truth behind the photograph of the Migrant Mother?
It's no exaggeration to call the photograph " Migrant Mother " one of the most iconic images of the Great Depression. Flanked by two of her young children, their faces hidden, while she holds a third child, an impoverished Cherokee farmhand stares stoically into the distance, ...
Who was the photographer who captured history as it happened?
It's an unforgettable image, but it's far from the only image produced by Lange , who lived into the mid-1960s and only got more prolific as she aged. She captured history as it happened and traveled the world, photographing people as they were — empathizing with them without romanticizing their plights. This is her story.
What did Lange do with Taylor?
Lange found her way back to the art of photography eventually, however, when Taylor became a foreign diplomat. She traveled the world with him, and captured the conditions in countries around the world, many of which were more dire than those she had witnessed during the Depression.
Who was Dorothea Lange?
Dorothea Lange originally set up shop as a commercial portrait photographer. Born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn in 1895 in Hoboken, New Jersey, Lange was raised in a fairly typical middle-class family for the time. At age 7, she contracted polio, which left her walking on a weakened right leg for the rest of her life.
Who was the first photographer to teach photography?
White was an early photography professor who encouraged his students to photograph everyday objects in order to really "see" them. Settling in San Francisco in 1918, Lange set up shop as a portrait photographer, and eventually married mural artist Maynard Dixon.
Who was Lange's second husband?
She was recruited to document the plight of migrant workers by economist Paul Taylor, who also became her second husband.
Why is the Dust Bowl a cliché?
Its use has become almost a cliché in history textbooks that mention the Dust Bowl, which has blunted its power somewhat, but it's a cliché for a reason: because, in a single image, photographer Dorothea Lange captured the essence of the Depression-era working poor.
Where did the Migrant Mother settle?
The family would ultimately settle in Modesto, California, where Thompson kept her identity as the Migrant Mother a secret. At the time the photos were taken Thompson had 7 children and she would go on to have 3 more. A little known fact about the Migrant Mother- Thompson was born in 1903, part of the Cherokee who were displaced to Oklahoma (both of her parents claimed land rights as Native Americans).
How old was Lange when she told me about the encounter?
Lange would later write of the encounter: “I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds that the children killed…”
What was the significance of the photo of the pea pickers starving in Nimpono?
The photo was circulated in newspapers across the nation and became a symbol for strength in trying times. The government responded by sending 20,000 pounds of food to the camp, but Thompson and her family had moved on by the time it arrived.
Why did Lange receive a Guggenheim Fellowship?
But, Lange earned great recognition for her work and later received a Guggenheim fellowship based on the popularity and poignancy of the most famous of the Migrant Mother photographs.
Who was the photographer during the Great Depression?
As the Great Depression began to take hold of America, a young photographer took a photograph that became the image of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange was a photographer who stepped aside from her studio and portrait work and took a job as a photographer for the Resettlement Administration. This program was a New Deal agency tasked with helping poor families relocation.
How many pictures did Lange take?
Lange took six pictures; although “Migrant Mother” became the most iconic and one of the most familiar images of the 20th-century. The woman’s three children cower behind her for protection, hiding their faces as their mother looks ahead into the distance. Unfortunately, this image was not a “one off”… during this time the United States was full of families just like the one. Poverty had forced families off their land and into a life of wandering… these families had NOTHING.
What did Lange do before she died?
Contracting polio was a child left Lange with a limp… and helped her to relate to outsiders. Her early work as a portrait photographer trained her to capture her subjects’ dignity. In an interview not long before her death, she said, “My powers of observation are fairly good, and I have used them.”
What is the significance of the woman's expression?
Most significant of the woman’s expression is her vacant expression which seemed to portray that things were not going to get better for a very long time. For years, no information was known about this woman and her family and no one knew what had become of them.
What area was affected by the freeze?
This photograph drew much needed attention to Nipomo, the area that was so deeply affected by the freeze. As a result, the government sent relief rations to the area.
Who was the photographer who photographed the migrants mother?
The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration.
Who was the Migrant Mother?
Her name was Florence Owens Thompson ; she was 75 years old. Lange had promised Thompson that her name would never be published — Thompson wanted to spare her children the embarrassment — but once she was discovered, she revealed her name and told her story.
What happened to Katherine Thompson's car?
One day in 1936, while driving from Los Angeles to Watsonville, Thompson's car broke down. She managed to get the car towed into the Nipomo pea-pickers camp, had it repaired, and was just about to leave when Dorothea Lange appeared. Thompson was not eager to have her family photographed and exhibited as specimens of poverty, but there were people starving in that camp, one of Thompson's daughters later recalled, and Lange convinced her that the image would educate the public about the plight of hardworking but poor people like herself. Within days, the photo was being published in papers across the country — an instant classic of American photography. In the years to follow, the Thompson family kept their identities to themselves, but the photograph was a continual subject of conversation. “It always stayed with her,” said Katherine Thompson McIntosh of her mother. “She always wanted a better life, you know.”
Who was the woman who sat on top of a car with her camera?
Dorothea Lange sitting on top of a car with her camera, ca. 1936.
How many pictures did Lange take?
Lange took five pictures. The images were made using a Graflex camera. The original negatives are 4x5" film. One of them, "Migrant Mother", became the iconic photo of the Depression, and one of the most familiar images of the 20th century. With her children cowering behind her for protection, hiding their faces, the Migrant Mother gazes distractedly into the distance. At the time, the dust-blown interior of the United States was full of families like hers, whom poverty had forced off their land and into a life of wandering. Their poverty was total; they had nothing. Where is her husband, the children's father? She is on her own. There is no help, no protection, and nothing over the horizon but work, want and more wandering. Her worried, vacant expression seems to communicate what we, at our end of history, already know: Things were not going to get better for a long, long time.
Who was the Migrant Mother?
Her name was Florence Owens Thompson ; she was 75 years old. Lange had promised Thompson that her name would never be published — Thompson wanted to spare her children the embarrassment — but once she was discovered, she revealed her name and told her story.
How old was Florence Owens Thompson when she found the Migrant Mother?
Her name was Florence Owens Thompson; she was 75 years old.
Why did Florence Thompson allow Dorothea Lange to photograph her family?
In 1936 Florence Thompson allowed Dorothea Lange to photograph her family because she thought it might help the plight of the working poor. "She always wanted a better life," her daughter later said.
What did Dorothea Lange do for her reputation?
Meanwhile, Migrant Mother made Dorothea Lange's reputation, helped earn her a Guggenheim fellowship, and conferred fame and a permanent place in the canon of American photographers. Lange certainly deserved her success; she had an eye, talent, training, and drive.
What happened to Katherine Thompson's car?
One day in 1936, while driving from Los Angeles to Watsonville, Thompson's car broke down. She managed to get the car towed into the Nipomo pea-pickers camp, had it repaired, and was just about to leave when Dorothea Lange appeared. Thompson was not eager to have her family photographed and exhibited as specimens of poverty, but there were people starving in that camp, one of Thompson's daughters later recalled, and Lange convinced her that the image would educate the public about the plight of hardworking but poor people like herself. Within days, the photo was being published in papers across the country — an instant classic of American photography. In the years to follow, the Thompson family kept their identities to themselves, but the photograph was a continual subject of conversation. "It always stayed with her," said Katherine Thompson McIntosh of her mother. "She always wanted a better life, you know."
How many pictures did Lange take?
Lange took six pictures. One of them, Migrant Mother, became the iconic photo of the Depression, and one of the most familiar images of the 20th century. With her children cowering behind her for protection, hiding their faces, the Migrant Mother gazes distractedly into the distance.
Who was Dorothea Lange?
As the United States sank into the Great Depression, a photographer named Dorothea Lange turned her attention away from studio and portrait work toward the suffering she was seeing around her. After taking a job as a photographer for the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency tasked with helping poor families relocate, ...
Where is the Migrant Mother negative?
While the negative of the image is housed in the Library of Congress (where it is filed under Lange's original description, Destitute pea pickers in California.
What is the meaning of the word "migrant mother"?
Migrant Mother depicts the female farm worker with 2 young children at her side and a sleeping baby on her lap. As she sits with her children, she stares into the distance and gently holds her hand to her face, suggesting that she is deep in thought.
Why were the children in the Pea Pickers camp destitute?
Seven hungry children. Mother aged 32, the father is a native Californian. Destitute in a pea pickers camp, because of the failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were destitute.'.
What was Dorothea Lange's job?
In addition to this work assignment, however, Lange also found herself working on a personal project: photographing the real-life effects of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange in 1936.
Where did Dorothea Lange work?
That need to support her family landed them in the camp, where she and other struggling farmers coped with the fact that, according to Lange, “the pea crop had frozen and there was no work for anybody.”. Dorothea Lange, “Drought refugees from Oklahoma at work in the pea fields near Nipomo, California.”.
How old was Lange when she took the intimate series of photographs?
“I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was 32. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food.”
Why did Lange ask Thompson to take photos?
When Lange approached Thompson, she was willing to partake in the photo session with the hope that it would help expose the realities of her dire situation. “There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her,” Lange recalls, “and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”
Why did Lange send food to Nipomo?
The government swung into action right away as well. Something like 20,000 pounds of food were immediately shipped to Nipomo to relieve what looked in the papers like a developing famine.
Did the Owens family eat the first parcel?
Owens and her family weren’t there to eat it. By the time the first parcel arrived, the family had moved on. Before long, the photo ran in national dailies and in magazines across the country. Everybody was looking at Owens’ worried expression and seeing the whole economic mess of the decade summed up in the lines of her face.
