Dorothea Lange's Politics of Seeing

"Shipyard Worker, Richmond California," circa 1943. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"Last West, Gas Station, Kern County, California," 1938. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"Ex-Slave with a long memory," 1938. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"May Day Listener at Rally," circa 1934. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"Migrant Mother, Nipomo," 1936. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"The Road West, New Mexico," 1938. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"Young Man at Manzanar Relocation Center," 1942. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

"White Angel Bread Line, San Francisco," 1933. © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor

Fifty years ago, the Oakland Museum of California acquired the personal archives of Dorothea Lange, who spent much of her celebrated career documenting poverty, racism, xenophobia and homelessness in the state and beyond. On the anniversary of that gift, a new show at the museum presents more than 100 of her photographs along with unedited contact sheets and personal objects. On view until August 13, “Dorothea Lange: Politics of Seeing” focuses on her life and the work she made during Great Depression and World War II, documenting Dust Bowl migrants, the internment of Japanese Americans and the country’s response to the war at home, along with the boom years that followed. Included are some of her most iconic photographs along with lesser-seen works. Together, the show presents Lange’s life and work as an example of how a committed photographer can use images to fight injustice over the long term. Says OMCA Curator of Photography and Visual Culture Drew Johnson, “This exhibition will present Lange’s work through an activist’s lens in which she provoked social and political change through her powerful imagery.”

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