An expansive look at portraiture identity and inequality as seen in Dorothea Lange’s iconic
photographs Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) aimed to make pictures that were in her words
“important and useful.” Her decades-long investigation of how photography could articulate
people’s core values and sense of self helped to expand our current understanding of
portraiture and the meaning of documentary practice. Lange’s sensitive portraits showing
the common humanity of often marginalized people were pivotal to public understanding of vast
social problems in the twentieth century. Compassion guided Lange’s early portraits of
Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico from the 1920s and 1930s as well as her depictions
of striking workers migrant farmers rural African Americans Japanese Americans in internment
camps and the people she met while traveling in Europe Asia and Latin America. Drawing
on new research the authors look at Lange’s roots in studio portraiture and demonstrate how
her influential and widely seen photographs addressed issues of identity as well as social
economic and racial inequalities—topics that remain as relevant for our times as they were for
hers. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art Washington Exhibition
Schedule: National Gallery of Art Washington DC (November 5 2023–March 31 2024)
