First Born, Berkeley, California, shows Lange’s son John Dixon holding his first son, Lange’s first grandchild, Gregor Dixon. The image initially gained fame for its inclusion in The Family of Man exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1955, and in the accompanying book. The image also marks the beginning of Lange’s focus, late in her life, on her family as photographic subject matter. Upon the birth of her second grandson, Andrew Dixon, Lange made a sequel to this image entitled Second Born, Berkeley, 1955.
The photographs in Dorothea Lange: The Family Collection were in the photographer’s collection at the time of her death and thenceforth passed to her descendants. The images represent the entirety of Lange’s career as one of the foremost documentary photographers of the 20th century, from work made before her engagement with the Resettlement Administration, later the Farm Security Administration, in the 1930s, to the travel photography that absorbed her in her final years, as well as more personal images of her family. Each print bears a Family Collection stamp on the reverse.
Dorothea Lange’s grandchildren, Lisa Perrin, Andrew Dixon, and Gregor Dixon, discuss Lange’s image of their father holding his first child, Gregor, First Born, Berkely.
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