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Dorothea Lange: Seeing People

Dorothea Lange, Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), March 1936, gelatin silver print, image: 34.1 x 26.8 cm (13 7/16 x 10 9/16 in.), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 98.XM.162

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Dorothea Lange, Grandfather and grandson of Japanese ancestry at a War Relocation Authority center, Manzanar, California, July 1942, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.126
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Dorothea Lange, Negro sharecropper with twenty acres. He receives eight cents a day for hoeing cotton. Brazos riverbottoms, near Bryan, Texas , June 1938, printed c. 1950, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.119
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Dorothea Lange, Children of the Weill public school shown in a flag pledge ceremony, San Francisco, California , April 1942, printed c. 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.17
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More than a dozen men crowded together fill this vertical black and white photograph. All wear snap-brim hats, fedoras, or caps, and all but two away from us. One man in the crowd looks to our right. The other is closest to us. He rests his forearms on a wooden railing, a metal cup tucked between his elbows. His hands are tightly clasped, and his worn, stained fedora is low over his lined face. His thin lips are set and he has a grizzled white beard. A partially legible sign in the back reads
Dorothea Lange, White Angel breadline, San Francisco, California, 1933, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.4
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Dorothea Lange, Displaced tenant farmers, Goodlett, Hardeman County, Texas, 1937, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.20
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Dorothea Lange, Nettie Featherston, wife of a migratory laborer with three children, near Childress, Texas, June 1938, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.5
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Dorothea Lange, Migratory field worker picking cotton in San Joaquin Valley, California, November 1938, printed later, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.28
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Dorothea Lange, On the Plains a Hat Is More Than a Covering, 1938, printed c. 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.24
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Dorothea Lange, Eighteen-year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant , March 1937, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.32
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Dorothea Lange, Young migratory cotton picker, Arizona, 1941, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.36
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Dorothea Lange, Migrant agricultural worker's family, Nipomo, California, February 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.33
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Dorothea Lange, Once a Missouri farmer, now a migratory farm laborer. San Joaquin Valley, California , February 1936, printed c. 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.38
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Dorothea Lange, Child of impoverished Negro tenant family working on farm, Alabama, July 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.39
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Dorothea Lange, Mexican workers leaving for melon fields, Imperial Valley, California , June 1935, printed 1940s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.42
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Dorothea Lange, Arkansas mother come to California for a new start, with husband and eleven children. Now a rural rehabilitation client. Tulare County, California, November 1938, printed 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.43
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Dorothea Lange, Yazoo Delta, Mississippi, 1938, printed 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.45
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Dorothea Lange, Former tenant farmer on relief grant in the Imperial Valley, California, March 1937, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.49
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Dorothea Lange, Formerly enslaved woman, Alabama, 1938, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.58
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Dorothea Lange, Black Woman Working in Field near Eutaw, Alabama, 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.67
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Dorothea Lange, Funeral cortege, San Joaquin Valley, California, 1938, printed early 1950s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.68
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Dorothea Lange, Hitch-hiking from Joplin, Missouri, to a sawmill job in Arizona. On U.S. 66 near Weatherford, western Oklahoma, August 12, 1938, printed c. 1960s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.75
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Dorothea Lange, Line of men inside a division office of the State Employment Service office at San Francisco, California, waiting to register for unemployment benefits , January 1938, printed c. 1960s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.61
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Dorothea Lange, Calipatra (vicinity), California. Native of Indiana in a migratory labor contractor's camp. "It's root hog or die for us folks." , February 1937, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.79
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Dorothea Lange, Migratory cotton picker, Eloy, Arizona , 1940, printed c. 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.89
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Dorothea Lange, Dispossessed Arkansas farmers. These people are resettling themselves on the dump outside of Bakersfield, California , 1935, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.94
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Dorothea Lange, Member of the congregation of Wheeley's church who is called "Queen." She is wearing the old fashioned type of sunbonnet. Her dress and apron were made at home. Near Gordonton, North Carolina, July 1939, printed no later than 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.103
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Dorothea Lange, Young girl looks up from her work. She picks and sacks potatoes on large-scale ranch, Edison, Kern County, California, April 11, 1940, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.114
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Dorothea Lange, Scandinavian Homesteader, Great Plains, South Dakota, 1939, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.115
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Dorothea Lange, Formerly enslaved woman, Alabama, 1938, printed c. 1955, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.84
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Dorothea Lange, Migratory pea pickers, Nipomo, California, March 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.142
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Dorothea Lange, Wandering boy, Camp Carlton, California, 1935, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.137
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Dorothea Lange, Migratory workers harvesting peas near Nipomo, California, spring 1937, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2017.162.1
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Dorothea Lange, Post office and postmistress, Widtsoe, Utah, April 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2017.162.2
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Dorothea Lange, Eighty-year-old woman living in squatters' camp on the outskirts of Bakersfield, California. "If you lose your pluck you lose the most there is in you—all you've got to live with", November 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2018.189.5
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In this black and white, vertical photograph, a man, woman, and baby, all with pale skin, rest on blankets, or perhaps rugs, spread over a roughly built wooden platform under a leafy tree. Closest to us, the man takes up most of the right half of the composition. He lies on his stomach with his left arm, on our right, stretched out in front. His hand is close to the photographer so is slightly out of focus, and he cups his forehead with his other hand. The wooden platform on which he lies runs close to the bottom edge of the image. His light hair stands straight up from his head, and he is cleanshaven. He wears a long-sleeved, button-down shirt and looks off to our left and a little above us from under raised eyebrows and a creased brow. To our left, a woman sits beyond the man with her body angled to our left. Her chin-length dark hair is tucked behind her ears, and her worn dress has tattered seams and gapes at the waist. She hunches slightly over the child she holds and looks up and to our left, her mouth open and her eyebrows knit. She seems to breastfeed the young, barefoot child who clutches her dress. The baby looks toward us from the corners of wide eyes. The toes and the ball of a person’s foot, mostly cropped from the image, are next to the man, along the right edge of the photograph. A piece of cloth is tied into the branches above and over the woman to create a makeshift tent against the bright glare of the sun.
Dorothea Lange, Drought refugees from Oklahoma camping by the roadside, Blythe, California, August 17, 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2017.162.4
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Dorothea Lange, Country store on dirt road. Sunday afternoon. Note the kerosene pump on the right and the gasoline pump on the left. Rough, unfinished timber posts have been used as supports for porch roof. Negro men are sitting on the porch. Brother of store owner stands in doorway, Gordonton, North Carolina, July 1939, printed later, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2018.189.14
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Dorothea Lange, This man is a labor contractor in the pea fields of California. "One-Eye" Charlie gives his views. "I'm making my living off of these people (migrant laborers) so I know the conditions," San Luis Obispo County, California, February 1936, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2018.189.16
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Dorothea Lange, Japanese American-owned grocery store, Oakland, California, March 1942, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.134
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Dorothea Lange, Untitled (La Estrellita, "Spanish" Dancer), San Francisco, California, 1919, gelatin silver print, Collection of the Oakland Museum of California, Gift of Estrellita Jones.

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Dorothea Lange, Hopi Man, Arizona, 1923, printed 1926, gelatin silver print, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84.XP.912.4.

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Dorothea Lange, Portrait of Adele Raas, San Francisco, 1927, gelatin silver print, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of the Raas Family.

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Dorothea Lange, Alabama Plow Girl, near Eutaw, Alabama, 1936, gelatin silver print, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2001 (2001.390).

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Dorothea Lange, Child Living in Oklahoma City Shacktown, August 1936, gelatin silver print, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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Dorothea Lange, Native American Girl, Taos, New Mexico, 1931, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.114.4
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Dorothea Lange, Grandfather and Grandchildren Awaiting Evacuation Bus, Hayward, California, 1942, gelatin silver print, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.) 2005.27.4215.

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Dorothea Lange, Street Encounter, Richmond, California, c. 1943, gelatin silver print, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.) 2005.27.4297.

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Dorothea Lange, Family Portrait, from Death of a Valley, 1956, gelatin silver print, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, \nGift of an anonymous donor in memory of Merrily Page.

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A uniformed policeman standing in front of a dense crowd of men holding protest signs in English and Japanese nearly fills the height of this vertical black and white photograph. The policeman either has a ruddy complexion or his face might be in shadow. He stands with his body facing us but he turns his head to our left in profile. His hands are crossed over his chest and one thumb is hooked into his jacket between two of the eight brass buttons down the front. A seven-pointed star reflects light on his chest and his flat-topped hat has a short, shiny brim angled down over his eyes. The jacket comes to his knees and his pants are lined with gold or other light material down the side. His feet are widely planted, and he wears dark shoes. The men in the crowd behind appear to be light skinned. Many wear button-down, collared shirts with ties tucked into long coats. Many also wear fedora hats and look off to our left, the same direction as the policeman. One man to our right wearing a floppy cap and glasses looks out at us with his hands in his jacket pockets. Some of the legible English words on the protest signs read “UNION,” “AMERICAN PRESS SLANDER against the,” and “JA.”
Dorothea Lange, Street Demonstration, San Francisco, 1934, gelatin silver print, Diana and Mallory Walker Fund and Robert Menschel and the Vital Projects Fund, in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art, 2015.183.1
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Dorothea Lange, Maynard and Dan Dixon, 1930, printed c. 1960s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.60
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Dorothea Lange, San Francisco Waterfront, 1934, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.69
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Dorothea Lange, Korean Child, 1958, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.114.1
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Dorothea Lange, Anne Carter Johnson, St. George, Utah , 1953, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.140
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Dorothea Lange, Patrick Flanagan on Tubber Green, County Galway, Ireland , 1954, printed no later than 1965, gelatin silver print, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, 2016.191.105
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