Currently not on view
Ex-Tenant Farmer on Relief Grant in the Imperial Valley, California,
March 1937
Dorothea Lange, 1895–1965; born Hoboken, NJ; died San Francisco, CA; active San Francisco, CA
2007-155
One of the best-known photographers of the twentieth century, Lange worked with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the mid-1930s. The FSA was created as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal with the goal of combating poverty in rural America. To garner support for the New Deal, Lange documented migrant workers in California, paying particular attention to their emotions and gestures. As a result, her photographs were more narrative and sentimental than those of some of the other FSA photographers. For example, the negative for the photograph shown here originally contained three men, but Lange cropped the image to make this man the focus, humanizing his plight and creating a more powerful final image.
Information
Title
Ex-Tenant Farmer on Relief Grant in the Imperial Valley, California
Dates
March 1937
Maker
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
41.5 × 33.8 cm (16 5/16 × 13 5/16 in.)
frame: 61.6 × 51.4 × 3.8 cm (24 1/4 × 20 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Minor White, by exchange
Object Number
2007-155
Place Made
North America, United States, Imperial Valley
Inscription
In ink: LANGE 16336
Culture
Techniques
Subject
