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Art Education
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INSTRUCTIONAL
MIGRANT
BY
DOROTHE
?s
Migrant Mother , Nipomo, California, 1936 by Dorothea Lange. Library of Congress, FSA Collection.
Migrant Mother 1, Nipomo, California, 1936 by Dorothea Lange. Library of Congress, FSA Collection.
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MIGRANT MOTHER
BY DOROTHEA LANGE
A P *pwr?r~c~n D lel~ rr;r'
MIGRANT MOTHER, 1936
She was drawn as if by "instinct,
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INSTRUCTIONAL
IN THE WORK
atmosphere that is responsive to the students' comments. figures; the forms touch, overlap, and nestle against one
seated, her elbow on her lap, her hand cupped under her
chin with only her fingertips touching her face, her gaze
mouth is solemn, and her dark hair is pulled loosely away depth to the image and, by contrast, emphasizing the figures
from her face. She is wearing a rough textured garment; its and their relationship to each other.
nestles her face against them. The other child stands against Begin to have your students search for meaning within
the woman, hiding her face behind the woman's shoulder. the work. Encourage them to support their thoughts with
The rest of the figures' bodies are not included in the
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Migrant Mother2, Nipomo, California, 1936 by Dorothea Lange. Library of Congress, FSA Collection.
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This content downloaded from 187.39.231.17 on Fri, 16 Sep 2016 21:22:18 UTC
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children, nor does she gently touch them, but the intimacy
She first ignored a crudely lettered sign which read, intensity of her photographic experience resulted in an
image so strong that Roy Stryker, the director of the FSA at
"PEA PICKERS' CAMP." Keeping her foot on the
accelerator, she continued driving down the highway.that
Shetime, described the photograph as one that had the
did not want to stop; she had enough negatives for her potential to both excite and disturb the viewer. Words were
assignment, and she knew that the rain could cause
unnecessary, according to Stryker (Ohm, 1980), but
problems with her camera. After twenty miles of attempting
Lange's brief title reinforces the image.
to convince herself that she should drive on, Lange turned
By 1942, the FSA files, in Washington, D.C, held over
270,000 photographs (Ohm, 1980). The government
around, "following instinct, not reason" (Lange, 1960, p.
126). She drove back to the crude sign and followed it photographers
to the
had been encouraged by Stryker to strive for
aesthetic excellence as they recorded the social conditions
migrants' camp.
Dorothea Lange parked her car in the wet camp and,of the 1930s. It is this sense of excellence that is evident in
almost immediately, saw the woman. Lange asked no Lange's work.
The photograph known as Migrant Mother is actually the
questions and neither did the woman. She told Lange that
last of the six exposures Dorothea Lange made that day in
she was thirty-two and that she and the children had been
1936 (3 of the other 5 are reproduced here). As Lange
eating frozen vegetables from the nearby fields and birds
worked
the children caught. The pea crop was frozen, and there
wasinward toward her subjects, the children moved
closer
no work. The woman had just sold the tires from her car
to to their mother, resulting in a unity of composition
present in the other exposures.
buy food. Lange did not remember how she explained not
her
presence, but the woman seemed to sense that the
The human element of her work was extremely
photographs might help her. Lange worked for ten minutes,
important to Lange; she sensed a reciprocity between
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INSTRUCTIONAL
work
stands still and all you do is hold your breath and hope it
will of art. Your students can view Migrant Mother and
waitforyou. And you just hope you have enough time to relate
get it to the photograph purely on an emotional or on a
organized in afraction of a second on that tiny piece of aesthetic level. They can explore for themselves why th
think the image has endured as a work of art. By helping
sensitive film. Sometimes you have an inner sense that you
students
have encompassed the thing generally. You know then that
you understand the social context in which the
group one of the photographs. Have each small group to write a brief narrative about that individual's life from
develop a scenario of what their reactions would be if the moment of the photographs on. Have them justify
their writing with references to what they observed in
they were photographers encountering that particular
scene. Have them consider whether or not they wouldthe work. Activities could be designed to lead to the
writing of poetry as well. Allow time for the narratives
make a photograph at that particular moment. Let
them discuss their reasoning and come to a general to be presented to the class.
consensus. Bring the class back together and have one
student from each group present their responses and
Carole Henty is an Associate Professor in Art Education,
show the particular image to the rest of the class.
The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
2. Discuss contemporary social problems with the class.
Have the students compile a list of problems common
to their community. Have them look through
NOTES
collected, and have students decide which ones, if any,the depression and, eventually, raised 10 children. She died of
cancer in 1983. (Atlanta Journal and Constitution files)
they would classify as works of art. Make sure the
students support their decisions with reasoned
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Migrant Mother 5, Nipomo, California, 1936 by Dorothea Lange. Library of Congress, FSA Collection.
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