Dorothea Lange: A Historical Portrait

October 23, 2003
Casey Freeman
caseyseawell@hotmail.com

I. Topic
In this lesson students will explore the portraiture of
Dorothea Lange. Her ideals of “photographing things
the way they are” and her compassion for her subjects
make her a master of the portrait. Through the analysis
of her portraits students will consider the following questions; what is the difference between a candid and formal portrait? How can you successfully take a candid portrait? And are all portraits works of art?

II. Objectives/Expected Learner Outcomes
Students will compare two works by Dorothea Lange discussing their similarities and differences. Students will consider the difference between a candid and formal portrait. Students will discuss the challenges faced when creating candid portraits. Through the study of Lange’ photographs students will learn about their historical significance. Also they will analyze the elements and principles of design inherent in her work. Finally students will write a journal entry that responds to a quote by the artist.

III. Standards of Education
Virginia Visual Arts Standards of Learning:
AI. 1 The student will maintain a sketchbook/journal of ideas and writings to use as a resource and planning tool.
AI. 15 The student will identify feature of a work of art that influence meaning, including media, subject matter, and formal choices.
AI. 31 The student will speculate on the intentions and choices of those who created a work of art.
National Standards for Visual Arts Education:
Content Standard #4B: Students describe the function and explore the meaning of specific art objects within varied cultures, times and places

IV. Student Group Targeted
Secondary, Art I: Beginning Photography

V. Time Required
30-40 min

VI. Materials and Resources
Reproductions of the Following Images (all by Dorothea Lange):
White Angel Breadline, San Francisco, 1933
Refugee from Drought, Dust, Depression, near Sacramento, CA, 1936
Street Encounter, Richmond CA 1943
Street Meeting, 1934
Hoeing Cotton, near Yazoo City, Miss 1937
Ex-slave with a Long memory, Alabama 1937
Ma Graham, an “Arkansas Hoosier” 1938
Sharecropper who receives $5 a month, 1937
Mother and Child, 1934
Migratory Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona, 1940
Slides of the Following (all by Dorothea Lange):
San Francisco Waterfront, 1933
General Strike, San Francisco, 1934
Man and Wife
Migrant Mother, Florence Thompson, Nipomo California, March 1936
Damaged Child, Shacktown, Elm Grove, OA, 1936
Exodus, 1937
Six Tenant Farms with a Farm, 1938
Stoop labor
Outside the FSA Office, Calipatria, CA 1939
Emigrant women with a tin and washtub, 1939
Idle Laborer, Calipatria, CA, 1039
Homemade brace to correct deformed feet, 1939
Funeral Cottage, 1938
Mrs. Sam Crates, 1939
Shipyard Construction, 1942
From “Family of Man”
Gunlock, Utah, 1956
Dorothea Lange in the Field, 1937 by R. Partridge
Farm Fields, Salinas county, CA, 1939
The Empire of Cotton
Tractored Out, 1938

VII. Itinerary and Strategies
1. Divide the class into groups by table. Give each table two photographs, ask them to spend five minutes looking at and comparing the photos, ask them to consider the following questions:
What is similar about these photos? What is different?
What kind of mood do these photos convey?
2. Ask each group to select a spokesperson to explain some of the group’s answers to these questions. As a part of this discussion emphasize the candid vs. formal nature of the portraits. Ask the students the following questions:
Have you ever successfully taken a candid portrait?
Do you think all portraits are works of art? Why or why not?
How do you think you might attempt to take a portrait of someone without them knowing?
3. Bring this discussion into the background of the artist Dorothea Lange. Begin with of brief explanation of her personal history:
Born in Hoboken N.J. in 1895
In 1902 she contracted polio and it impaired her right leg and gave her a life-long limp
1907 Lange’s father abandons the family, which forces her mother to get a job, Lange spent a lot of time alone wandering the streets of New York, this is where she first learned how to observe life without drawing attention to herself, begging of her “cloak of invisibility”
Travels to San Francisco when she was 18 years old.
Eventually gets a job in a photographers studio
Starts working on formal portraits in her own studio
1920 married Maynard Dixon and had two sons
1929- Stock Market Crash leading to the Great Depression
4. Begin showing slides, while showing the slides, explain the climate in which Lange was photographing within the context of her personal history:
Depression Era/Dustbowl Migration, the great depression brought an influx of people to the city and Lange started to tell the story of the country on economic decline
Farm Security Administration – Developed programs to help impoverished farmers. Photos drew attention to their plight
5. Discus the nature of Lange’s portraits, Ask questions like:
What do you think Lange wanted to communicate with each image?
What challenges might be presented when photographing people you don’t know?
Do you think the artist is sympathetic to her subjects?
6. Discuss the formal properties of the photographs:
What formal properties did she take into consideration?
How was the image framed?
What vantage point did she take them image from?
Which elements and principles does she consider?
How do these elements help to tell the story of the people depicted in the image?
7. Finish by assigning a journal assignment: Consider the following quote from Dorothea Lange, “the camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” Write a one-page journal entry on this quote in relation to what you have learned about the work of Dorothea Lange.

VIII. Evaluation Strategies
Students will be able to consider the difference between a candid and formal portrait, and be able to discuss the challenges faced when creating candid portraits. After studying Lange’s photographs students will understand the climate in which they were created. Also they will be able to analyze the elements and principles of design inherent in her work.

IX. Suggested Supplemental Activities
- Portrait Assignment: Shoot two rolls, first roll, shoot candid subjects in a public place, second roll shoot a portrait of someone you know. Print the best image from each roll and display them together.
- Visit the following website to view more of Lange’s work: www.berkeley.edu/lange
- Ties into History of Depression, the New Deal and the Farm Security Admistration