Born 1895, Hoboken, New Jersey
Died 1965, San Francisco
1962 BFA University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
1964 MA University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Selected museum exhibitions: Reynolda House of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (2018); Oakland Museum of California (2017); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2002); Museum of Modern Art (1940, 1962, 1966, 2020)
Selected honors: California Hall of Fame (2008); National Women’s Hall of Fame (2003); John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1941)
Selected public collections: Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art; Oakland Museum of California; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Widely considered to be among the greatest American documentary photographers, Dorothea Lange is best known for the powerful images that she took during the Great Depression for the Farm Security Administration. Bringing determination, compassion, and a unique vision to her work, she captured some of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century. As with her iconic Migrant Mother, Lange’s closely cropped Daughter of Mexican Field Laborer, near Chandler Arizona displays her masterful ability to capture gesture, establish eye contact, and encourage empathy with her subjects.