Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art: »Dorothea Lange: Seeing People«

A revolution in photography

The U.S. American Dorothea Lange shaped documentary photography like few others. Her humanistic depictions of Depression-era America were particularly influential. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., pays tribute to her work in Dorothea Lange: Seeing People beginning Nov. 5.

November 05, 2023
Dorothea Lange, Formerly Enslaved Woman, Alabama, from The American Country Woman, 1938, printed 1950s
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Dorothea Lange, Formerly Enslaved Woman, Alabama, from The American Country Woman, 1938, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, image/sheet: 20.3 x 27.9 cm (8 x 11 in.), mat: 14 x 18 in., frame (outside): 15 x 19 in.

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) harbored an early desire to become a photographer. In the 1920s, she ran her own studio in San Francisco, where she took portraits of wealthy people in the best style of pictorialism. This enabled her to become financially independent, a rarity for a woman of her time. In the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression, Lange devoted herself to realistic photography: she documented the everyday life of poor and homeless people, migrant workers, demonstrations: An America in transition after the Depression. Her photographs ensured that misery became nationally known. Her work helped found documentary photography. The National Gallery of Art's exhibition Dorothea Lange: Seeing People features more than 100 of her iconic photographs. The show runs from Nov. 5, 2023, to March 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C.

Lange's illustrations of the mass internment of Japanese living in the U.S. and Americans of Japanese descent beginning in 1942 deserve special attention. About 120,000 people were imprisoned in concentration camps in the Midwest after the U.S. declared war on Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were officially classified as security risks and were not able to leave the camps until 1946, in some cases without compensation. Few of these images of Lange were published; most were confiscated by the government and stored in the National Archives. It was not until 2006 that they were released to the public.Art.Salon

Dorothea Lange, End of Shift, 3:30, Shipyard Construction Workers, Richmond, California, September 1943
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser © The Dorothea Lange Collection, Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.
Dorothea Lange, End of Shift, 3:30, Shipyard Construction Workers, Richmond, California, September 1943, gelatin silver print, image: 24 x 19 cm (9 7/16 x 7 1/2 in.), sheet: 25.4 x 20.32 cm (10 x 8 in.), mat: 18 x 14 in., frame (outside): 19 x 15 in.

Recent auction results of Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Lange - A Woman Called Queen, North Carolina, 1939
Auction
Photographs
April 2024
Christies, New York (Online Auction)
Est.: 8.000 - 12.000 USD
Realised: not available
Details
Dorothea Lange - Plantation Owner, Mississippi Delta near Clarksdale, Mississippi
Auction
Photographs
April 2024
Phillips, New York Auction
Est.: 8.000 - 12.000 USD
Realised: 21.590 USD
Details
Dorothea Lange - Demonstration, San Francisco, 1934
Auction
Photographs
April 2024
Christies, New York (Online Auction)
Est.: 8.000 - 12.000 USD
Realised: 10.710 USD
Details
Dorothea Lange - Alabama Plow Girl Near Eutaw, Alabama, July 1936
Auction
Photographs
April 2024
Bonhams, New York
Est.: 4.000 - 6.000 USD
Realised: 4.096 USD
Details

Dive deeper into the art world

Hong Kong, Karin Weber Gallery: Exhibition with Tina Buchholtz

In the exhibition Defying Boundaries: Female Vision, the Karin Weber Gallery in Hong Kong is showing remarkable positions from China, Germany, Myanmar and Wales until March 8. Tina Buchholtz from the Art.Salon artist program is represented with three paintings.

January 22, 2025
Vancouver Art Gallery shows Emily Carr

How nature feels and smells: Canadian painter Emily Carr felt a deep connection to nature. In Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape, the Vancouver Art Gallery is showing her paintings of densely overgrown forests – and extensive clear-cutting. The show opens on January 25.

January 22, 2025