"An Appeal For A Face From The Depression", "Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: 'We were ashamed, Overview of the Migrant Mother series at the LOC, Video of interview of Florence Owens Thompson, Interview with Katherine McIntosh and Norma Rydlewski (Katherine is the baby in the photo and Norma was four years-old when the image was taken); 36 minutes - produced by Blackside for, Article on the photo shoot and reinterpretation of an image, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Florence_Owens_Thompson&oldid=997340851, People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 31 December 2020, at 01:58. Need assistance? February [sic: March] 1936. Dorothea Lange. [19] In November 2002, Dorothea Lange's personal print of Migrant Mother sold at Christie's New York for $141,500. This marriage brought her far greater financial security than she had previously enjoyed. [11] Within days, the pea-picker camp received 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of food from the federal government. By Lennard Davis. Seven hungry children. During one self-prompted visit to a campsite brimming with out-of-work pea pickers, Lange spotted a particularly d… Editor: Learn more about the piece and artist, and its final selling price The subject is of Florence Owens Thompson, a 32-year-old migrant worker and mother of seven. While she waited, she was approached by an apparently friendly photographer named Dorothea Lange, who was touring the Central Valley at the request of the federal government to document the plight of migrant laborers. Dorothea Lange. Discover more about an iconic image from the Farm Security Administration Collection. Prints & Photographs Division staff "Unraveling the Mysteries of Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother, "Video featuring interview with Florence Thompson", "Florence Owen Thompson: audio from interview". Edward Steichen described them as "the most remarkable human documents ever rendered in pictures. ", Thompson's identity was discovered in the late 1970s. Out of the thousands of images she made, why does this have such universal appeal? In addition to this work assignment, however, Lange also found herself working on a personal project: photographing the real-life effects of the Great Depression. Florence Owens Thompson (born Florence Leona Christie; September 1, 1903 â September 16, 1983) was the subject of Dorothea Lange's famous photograph Migrant Mother (1936), an iconic image of the Great Depression. However, it is, unmistakably, the mother from that photograph. [12] Thompson was quoted as saying: "I wish she [Lange] hadn't taken my picture. Commissioned to document the impact of federal programs intended to improve rural communities, she was sent to locations across the country. Migrant Mother, 1936 Lange had just completed a month-long photographic assignment and was driving back home in a wind-driven rain when she came upon a sign for the camp. Thompson later recalled periods when she picked 400â500 pounds (180â230 kg) of cotton from first daylight until after it was too dark to work. The San Francisco News ran the pictures almost immediately and reported that 2,500 to 3,500 migrant workers were starving in Nipomo, California. She took seven images in the course of ten minutes. âThe Assignment Iâll Never Forget.â. [11] Thompson and her family had moved on by the time the food arrived,[11] and were working near Watsonville, California. She told me her age, that she was 32. Dorothea Lange's famous "Migrant Mother" photograph. I done a little bit of everything to make a living for my kids. But “Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother,” a new book from the Museum of Modern Art, offers fresh insights as it weaves a compelling tale about some little-explored details. In many ways, Migrant Mother is not typical of Lange's careful method of interacting with her subject. Migrant Mother became the most iconic image of the 160,000 Dorothea Lange took to document the Great Depression. The story of how Dorothea Lange created perhaps the most iconic photograph in American history. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. Dorothea Lange, American documentary photographer whose portraits of displaced farmers during the Great Depression greatly influenced later documentary and journalistic photography. She said: "We never had a lot, but she always made sure we had something. Her best-known image is Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (1936). To me, it was the picture ... . Exhausted after a long road-trip, she did not speak extensively to the migrant woman, or Thompson herself, and may not have recorded any notes. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Face of hard times has a big payday. [17] The stamp printing was unusual, as daughters Katherine McIntosh (on the left in the stamp) and Norma Rydlewski (in Thompson's arms in the stamp) were alive at the time of the printing; usually, the Postal Service does not print stamps of individuals who have not been dead for at least 10 years. Mother of seven children. Destitute in a pea pickers camp because of the failure of the early pea crop. Florence Owens Thompson (born Florence Leona Christie; September 1, 1903 – September 16, 1983) was the subject of Dorothea Lange's famous photograph Migrant Mother (1936), an iconic image of the Great Depression. (As a rule, RA photographers did not record subject names, and Lange had promised not to reveal Thompson’s identity.) Extended captions and supplementary textual files relating to this series in the FSA Written Records have not been found. They were shocked to find so many people camping thereâas many as 2,500 to 3,500. Migrant Mother Series of Images Note: Two images showing the mother and children in the tent, taken at a medium range and from an angle, apparently were never received by the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress titled the image: "Destitute pea pickers in California. The photograph that has become known as "Migrant Mother" is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Communities, she was 32, with whom she had just sold the tires from her car to buy.! Farm workers following the crops in California ; a 32 year old lady known as “ Migrant Mother,,! Happen, and difficult to process California, in 1998, the family in... 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