[11] Within days, the pea-picker camp received 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of food from the federal government. Florence died of "stroke, cancer and heart problems" at Scotts Valley, California, on September 16, 1983 at age 80. Dorothea Lange. [12] Thompson was quoted as saying: "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. [17] The stamp printing was unusual, as daughters Katherine McIntosh (on the left in the stamp) and Norma Rydlewski (in Thompson's arms in the stamp) were alive at the time of the printing; usually, the Postal Service does not print stamps of individuals who have not been dead for at least 10 years. Sally Stein, ‘Passing Likeness: Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” and the Paradox of Iconicity’, in Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self, exhibition catalogue, International Centre of Photography, New York 2004, pp.345–55, reproduced p.344. Nipomo, California", "A true picture of hard times. Use our online form to ask a librarian for help. "[1], Florence Owens Thompson was born Florence Leona Christie on September 1, 1903, in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. She never did. According to Thompson, Lange promised the photos would never be published. Age thirty-two. By 1931, Thompson was pregnant with her sixth child, when her husband Cleo died of tuberculosis. Looking at Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother Something appears to have been mixed up here, since the photograph above is not the well-known Migrant Mother photograph by Dorothea Lange . Dorothea Lange's famous 'Migrant Mother' Depression photograph, taken in Nipomo, and others collect almost $300,000 at auction. I worked in the fields. In 1960, Lange gave this account of the experience: I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. Migrant Mother: Dorothea Lange and the Truth of Photography. Most of the 2,500 Something beckoned her to postpone her journey home and enter the camp. Commissioned to document the impact of federal programs intended to improve rural communities, she was sent to locations across the country. There she sat in that lean- to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. She didn't ask my name. Captured by documentary photographer Dorothea Lange in 1936, the image of a worried but resilient mother was … The following are the six other photos: Collection of the Oakland Museum of California, Farm Security Administration–Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Native-American farm worker, subject of Dorothea Lange's famous photo Migrant Mother. English: The "Migrant Mother" — renowned image by photographer Dorothea Lange, of Florence Owens Thompson in 1936. Considering its impact, it is ironic that Migrant Mother is not typical of Lange’s usual practice. Afterward Lange informed the authorities of the plight of those at the encampment, and they sent 20,000 pounds of food. Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph of a worried migrant mother is the single most iconic image of the Great Depression. The subject is of Florence Owens Thompson, a 32-year-old migrant worker and mother of seven. Photographed at "Pea-Pickers Camp" — in Nipomo, San Luis Obispo County, central California.From a Resettlement Administration documentation project, the photograph has become one of the iconic images of the Great Depression.There are two versions of … (From: Lange's "The Assignment I'll Never Forget: Migrant Mother," Popular Photography, Feb. 1960). Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. Seven hungry children. Last Updated: February 19, 2019. Hanna Soltys, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division Thompson then worked in the fields and in restaurants to support her six children. She is best know for photographs of the great depression. Learn more about the piece and artist, and its final selling price Dorothea Lange's famous "Migrant Mother" photograph. Well after World War II, Thompson met and married hospital administrator George Thompson. Edward Steichen described them as "the most remarkable human documents ever rendered in pictures. ", Thompson's identity was discovered in the late 1970s. (As a rule, RA photographers did not record subject names, and Lange had promised not to reveal Thompson’s identity.) She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. "Unraveling the Mysteries of Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother, "Video featuring interview with Florence Thompson", "Florence Owen Thompson: audio from interview". The Library of Congress titled the image: "Destitute pea pickers in California. She said she wouldn't sell the pictures. Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, has become an enduring icon since its making in 1936.Taken while Lange was working for the Farm Security Administration documenting the hardships of the Great Depression, Migrant Mother combines the photographer’s characteristic respect and empathy for her subjects with her compositional rigor. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields and birds that the children killed. [11] Thompson and her family had moved on by the time the food arrived,[11] and were working near Watsonville, California. Migrant Mother became the most iconic image of the 160,000 Dorothea Lange took to document the Great Depression. While she waited, she was approached by an apparently friendly photographer named Dorothea Lange, who was touring the Central Valley at the request of the federal government to document the plight of migrant laborers. From the New York Public Library Then in 1978, a woman named Florence Owens Thompson wrote a … She said: "I worked in hospitals. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. 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 March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. The San Francisco News ran the pictures almost immediately and reported that 2,500 to 3,500 migrant workers were starving in Nipomo, California. 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. I did not ask her name or her history. The others were marvelous, but that was special ... . However, the picture did help make Lange a celebrity and earned her "respect from her colleagues. That's one thing she did do. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. In ten minutes, Lange snapped six photos of Owens and her children. Out of the thousands of images she made, why does this have such universal appeal? Photo of poverty sells for a stack of riches", "Famous Pictures Magazine – Depression Mother". Have a question? The identity of Migrant Mother was not learned until 1978, when a reporter from the Modesto Bee newspaper located Thompson, then in her mid-seventies, at her mobile home outside of Modesto, California. Dorothea Lange Migrant Mother. Mère migrante, Migrant Mother en anglais, est la photographie la plus célèbre de Dorothea Lange et une des plus connues du programme de la Farm Security Administration (FSA). I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. The image which later became known as Migrant Mother "achieved near mythical status, symbolizing, if not defining, an entire era in United States history". Follow the link to read the collection rights statement. Authors: During one self-prompted visit to a campsite brimming with out-of-work pea pickers, Lange spotted a particularly d… Age thirty-two. In the 1930s, Lange worked as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration. By Lennard Davis. She didn't eat sometimes, but she made sure us children ate. Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph of a worried migrant mother is the single most iconic image of the Great Depression, and one of the most famous pictures of … She said: "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. "[13], While the image was being prepared for exhibit in 1938,[14] the negative of the photo was retouched to remove Florence's thumb from the lower-right corner of the image. MARCH 4, 2020. This marriage brought her far greater financial security than she had previously enjoyed. "An Appeal For A Face From The Depression", "Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: 'We were ashamed, Overview of the Migrant Mother series at the LOC, Video of interview of Florence Owens Thompson, Interview with Katherine McIntosh and Norma Rydlewski (Katherine is the baby in the photo and Norma was four years-old when the image was taken); 36 minutes - produced by Blackside for, Article on the photo shoot and reinterpretation of an image, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Florence_Owens_Thompson&oldid=997340851, People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 31 December 2020, at 01:58. A conversation with Eve Schillo, Assistant Curator, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Steven Zucker. Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). They were shocked to find so many people camping there—as many as 2,500 to 3,500. [15], In the late 1960s, Bill Hendrie found the original Migrant Mother photograph along with 31 other unretouched, vintage photos by Dorothea Lange in a dumpster at the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. "[4], The family settled in Modesto, California, in 1945. [16] In October 2005, an anonymous buyer paid $296,000 at Sotheby's for the 32 rediscovered Lange photos—nearly six times their pre-bid estimate. [2] Her father, Jackson Christie, had abandoned her mother, Mary Jane Cobb, before she was born, and her mother remarried Charles Akman (of Choctaw descent) in the spring of 1905. The original negatives are 4x5" film. [3] A notice had been sent out for pickers, but the crops had been destroyed by freezing rain, leaving them without work or pay. She took seven images in the course of ten minutes. Discover more about an iconic image from the Farm Security Administration Collection. These images may be found in the Dorothea Lange Archive External , Oakland Museum 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607. They soon had their first daughter, Violet, followed by a second daughter, Viola, and a son, Leroy (Troy). Lange, however, sent them to the San Francisco News before even sending them to the Resettlement Administration in Washington, D.C. "[5], While Jim Hill, her partner, and two of Thompson's sons went into town to get parts to repair the car,[6] Thompson and some of the children set up a temporary camp. As she waited, photographer Dorothea Lange, working for the Resettlement Administration, drove up and started taking photos of Thompson and her family. Or she was borrowing to fill in what she didn't have. The photograph popularly known as “Migrant Mother” has become an icon of the Great Depression. It was expensive, sensitive to changes in temperature, and difficult to process. To me, it was the picture ... . But “Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother,” a new book from the Museum of Modern Art, offers fresh insights as it weaves a compelling tale about some little-explored details. Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California. Postal Service stamp in the 1930s portion of the Celebrate the Century series. The "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange Thesis Statement The photograph of the "Migrant Mother" was taken by Dorothea Lange in March 1936 during her trip to Nimpo during the Great Depression. [18], In the same month the U.S. stamp was issued, a print of the photograph with Lange's handwritten notes and signature sold in 1998 for $244,500 at Sotheby's New York. Dorothea Lange. Her best-known image is Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936). It seems that the published newspaper reports about this camp were later distilled into captions for the series, which explains inaccuracies on the file cards in the Library of Congress. Color film was rare in the 1930s. Florence Owens Thompson (born Florence Leona Christie; September 1, 1903 – September 16, 1983) was the subject of Dorothea Lange's famous photograph Migrant Mother (1936), an iconic image of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Documentary Tradition Dorothea Lange Migrant agricultural worker's family. Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo California, 1936, printed later, gelatin silver print, 35.24 x 27.78 cm (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, PG.1997.2). I tended bar. Note: This guide is adapted from "Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection" list, previously available on the Prints & Photographs Reading Room webpage. Together — with the photo above chief among them — these “Migrant Mother” photos … Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. During the 1930s, the family worked as migrant farm workers following the crops in California and at times into Arizona. Lange took seven photos that day, the last being the famous Migrant Mother. Migrant Mother Series of Images Note: Two images showing the mother and children in the tent, taken at a medium range and from an angle, apparently were never received by the Library of Congress. Nipomo, California." Of the photographs that came out of the Great Depression, few had as immediate or timeless impact as the one colloquially called Migrant Mother. Her name was … Mother of seven children. [21] By September, the family had collected $35,000 in donations to pay for her medical care. I did not ask her name or her history. Mother of seven children. The images were made using a Graflex camera. Prints & Photographs Division staff 23 years later, Lange wrote of the encounter with Thompson:[10]. Need assistance? Dorothea Lange captured suffering of itinerant workers near Nipomo. Age thirty-two. There's no way we sold our tires, because we didn't have any to sell. "Destitute pea pickers in California. Lange on "Migrant Mother" "It was raining, the camera bags were packed, and I had on the seat beside me in the car the results of my long trip, the box containing all those rolls and packs of exposed film ready to mail back to Washington. Things to consider: Why is the image in black and white? [16] After the death of Hendrie and his wife, their daughter, Marian Tankersley, rediscovered the photos while emptying her parents' San Jose home. We've all heard the famous expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information collection overview, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information black-and-white negatives rights statement. Created: 1998 Dorothea Lange was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist. During the course of her 40-year career, Lange’s style as a photographer proposed that social documentary photography is a humanist art form. It is not possible to determine on the basis of the negative numbers (which were assigned later at the Resettlement Administration) the order in which the photographs were taken. "Florence Thompson, 'Migrant Mother,' Dies". Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is widely recognized as the most popular social documentary photograph of all time. [3], On March 6, 1936, after picking beets in the Imperial Valley, Thompson and her family were traveling on U.S. Highway 101 towards Watsonville "where they had hoped to find work in the lettuce fields of the Pajaro Valley. As a whole, the photographs taken for the Resettlement Administration "have been widely heralded as the epitome of documentary photography." "[3] On the road, the car's timing chain snapped and they coasted to a stop just inside a pea-pickers' camp on Nipomo Mesa. "The Assignment I’ll Never Forget". The Library of Congress titled the image: "Destitute pea pickers in California. First of a series. [3] The family migrated west with other Owens relatives to Oroville, California, where they worked in the saw mills and on the farms of the Sacramento Valley. Exhausted after a long road-trip, she did not speak extensively to the migrant woman, or Thompson herself, and may not have recorded any notes. (33.81 x 26.19 cm) (image) 13 7/8 x 11 in. 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