Dorothea Lange Biography 

"A women without physical limitation, it is her, in the biography of Dorothea Lange."

Dorothea Lange was a photographer in America.  She is one of the greatest photographers in American history.  She was distressed by the suffering of the people during the Great Depression in America. Mostly of her photos were about the faces and places that were in misery.  Dorothea Lange biography is one of the greatest biographies all over the world, lets find out what makes it special. 

    She was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the 26th day of May, 1895.  Originally her parents named her Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn.  Dorothea experienced two major trauma in her life.  The first trauma in her life is when her father forsaken his family.  That was also her reason behind the changed of her name.  She took away her middle name and got her mother's maiden name.  The second trauma was when she had acquired polio.  She became lame at seven years old.  Nevertheless she spent her schooling days at different community schools in New York City.  She also entered New York Training School for Teachers.  She studied there for about three years.  Around 1917, she had determined to be a specialized person in Photography.

    Dorothea also expressed her works in the studio business of Charles H. Davis and also Arnold Genthe.  She also joined photography lessons of Clarence H. White.  She succeeded in photography field and built a portrait studio in the year 1919.  In same year, she had been married to painter named Maynard Dixon.  Unfortunately, their relationship did not succeed and broke their vow in 1935.  

    When the unexpected Depression hit America in 1930, the established studio of Dorothea Lange came to its end.  The Great Depression in America pulled down its economy as well as its technology.  America was also attacked by horrific nature devastation.  There was a wide-spread lack of food and it caused serious poverty in a long period of time.  Dorothea Lange turned her focus on the victims and places that are ruined.  He captured moments that were truly heart-braking.  In 1932, Dorothea published a photo of an old man hunched on a handrail while holding a cup together with unemployed men.  Dorothea named this photo "White Angel Breadline."  It was one of her masterpiece and became popular that time.  This photo expressed the undesirable circumstances caused by economic crisis.    

    Dorothea Lange had more photos and some of those were displayed at Oakland studio of a well known photographer named Willard Van Dyke.  She also started out an organization together with Paul S. Taylor.  Taylor was an economist and sociologist.  He used the works of Dorothea in his studies about populations in Depression time.  Dorothea and Paul fell in love with each other and married in 1935 after the annulment with Dixon.  In 1939, the couple had a writing partnership for a book titled An American Exodus: A Record of Human Erosion.

    The works of Dorothea Lange was exposed and been known in America.  Consequently, Roy Stryker requested her to merge with a photography unit supported by Resettlement Administration.  This sponsor was a prestigious Farm Security Administration that helps the people during the stage of Poverty.  The project was within Stryker's direction.  The administration used the photos of Dorothea Lange.  "Migrant Mother" (1936) was one of the superb works of Dorothea that this administration used. 

    In addition to Dorothea Lange biography, she was employed by the War Relocation Authority.  There she wrote different records regarding the internment between Americans and Japanese during World War II.  Her documentations were not published yet until years later through the book of Maisie and Richard Conrat in 1972.  She was also hired in the Office of War Information. 
 
    In 1945 she photographed the United Nations Conference in San Francisco for the State Department; did assignments for Life magazine, including "Three Mormon Towns" (1954) and "The Irish Country People" (1955); and recorded "Death of a Valley" (1960) for Aperture. Her career was crowned at the end of her life with a retrospective exhibition for the Museum of Modern Art, which was shown in 1966, after her death from cancer in 1965. Lange was comfortable with everyone that she encountered, but particularly with the down-and-outers, the silent and invisible population suffering from circumstances beyond their understanding or control. Such people trusted her, and she viewed and exhibited them with compassion and respect. Her ease with subjects, dedication to the improvement of their lot, and mastery of her chosen form of communication help place her work among the most enduring of its kind.

    Dorothea Lange shot photos in the conference of the United Nations in San Francisco on 1945. She also engaged herself in Life Magazine.  Her other three works between 1954 and 1960 were "Three Mormon Towns", "The Irish Country People" and “Death of a Valley."  In 1960, Dorothea Lange was already country-wide known for her works.  She conducted Thanksgiving parties where she read her Thanksgiving declarations.  In 1965, Dorothea Lange was dignified for her great contribution in America's Photography history held at Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The year 1965 was Dorothea's last year of living after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer in her past years. She died beside her husband on the 11th day of October, 1965.

    Dorothea Lange biography was truly inspiring.  We can learn a lot from her life.  Her great determination pushed her to the top of her career despite of her disability.  Her heart was full of passion towards her fellowmen.  It's not her eyes that lead the lens of her camera while capturing but it is her heart that captures the perfect angles of her every image.

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