Matthew Nelson
Dr. Ricketts
2/20/23
Honors Core
The Lens of Compassion: The Impact of Dorothea Lange’s Photography on the New Deal Era
The modern American culture can thank one point in history for making it what it is today, the New Deal. The New Deal was a series of programs that aimed to the relief, recovery, and reform of America throughout and even after the Great Depression. The New Deal’s goal was to bring a newfound American culture to its people. The way the New Deal did this was by bringing art to the public and providing it for no cost. Some of the ways the New Deal did this was creating public murals, art exhibits, and art in many parks. The New Deal launched about fifteen different programs including, but not limited
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On May 26, 1895, in Hoboken, New Jersey, Dorothea was born. Dorothea attended Wadleigh High School for Girls in New York City. Despite never having bought or used a camera, Dorothea clearly knew she wanted to pursue photography. Dorothea studied photography at Columbia University. Dorothea and a friend decided to travel the world after graduating, and ended up in San Francisco. But, their intentions of traveling were derailed when they lost all their money in a robbery. Because of this, Dorothea began working in a photographic supply shop as a finisher. She made friens with local photographers there, as well as a financier who assisted Dorothea in opening up her own portrait studio. The beginning of Dorothea’s legacy started in this private portrait studio, where she would take pictures of San Francisco’s social elite. As the Great Depression begain in 1933, Lange started taking pictures of migrants from western states. These images captured the Depression’s financial devastation. Dorothea discovered her calling as a documentary photographer at this point. After divorcing her ex-husband Dixon, Dorothea begain working for the FSA in 1935. Paul Taylor, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkely, was the man she decided to remarry. Dorothea worked with the FSA and RA, or the resettlement act, when she was married to Paul. She started taking pictures of the local farmers in the rural area, portraying the hardships they all faced, distributing them to the public, and drawing more attention to the need for help. From this point on, Dorothea’s career took off and she rose to prominence as one of the most well-known and significant photographers of the