White Angel breadline, San Francisco, California

1933

Dorothea Lange

Artist, American, 1895 - 1965

More than a dozen men crowded together fill this vertical black and white photograph. All wear snap-brim hats, fedoras, or caps, and all but two away from us. One man in the crowd looks to our right. The other is closest to us. He rests his forearms on a wooden railing, a metal cup tucked between his elbows. His hands are tightly clasped, and his worn, stained fedora is low over his lined face. His thin lips are set and he has a grizzled white beard. A partially legible sign in the back reads "SAN FRANCISCO" and "BY THE GOLDEN GA."
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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Article:  Who Is Dorothea Lange? 6 Things to Know

Learn how the documentary photographer got her start and why she dedicated her life to the medium.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dorothea Lange, Berkeley, CA; by descent to family of Dorothea Lange, CA, 1965; (Holden Luntz, Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, FL); Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser, Van Nuys, CA, 18 February 2003; gift to NGA, 2016.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1966

  • Museum of Modern Art. Dorothea Lange. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966: 20.

1978

  • Meltzer, Milton. Dorothea Lange: A Photographer's Life. Toronto, 1978: 116–117.

  • Heyman, Therese Thau, and The Oakland Museum. Celebrating a Collection: The Work of Dorothea Lange. Oakland, 1978: 47.

1982

  • Hoffman, Michael E., ed. Dorothea Lange: Photographs of a Lifetime. New York, 1982: 45.

1994

  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Dorothea Lange: American Photographs. Exh. cat. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1994: pl. 1.

1995

  • Davis, Keith F. The Photographs of Dorothea Lange. Kansas City, MO, 1995: 21.

1996

  • Mullins, Gerry. Dorothea Lange's Ireland. Washington, 1996: 116.

2002

  • Keller, Judith. Dorothea Lange: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum. Los Angeles, 2002: 49.

  • Borhan, Pierre. Dorothea Lange, the Heart and Mind of a Photographer. Boston, 2002: 71.

2008

  • Spirn, Anne Whiston. Daring to Look: Dorothea Lange's Photographs and Reports from the Field. Chicago, 2008: 16.

2009

  • Rubio, Oliva María, Sandra S. Phillips, Jack Von Euw, and Richard K. Doud, in collaboration with PHotoEspaña. Dorothea Lange: The Crucial Years, 1930–1946. Madrid, 2009: 11.

2013

  • Partridge, Elizabeth. Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning: Her Lifetime in Photography. San Francisco, 2013: 16.

2014

  • Gordon, Linda. Dorothea Lange. New York, 2014: 12.

Inscriptions

on verso, artist's stamp, center in black ink: PHOTOGRAPH BY / DOROTHEA LANGE / 1163 EUCLID AVENUE / BERKELEY / CALIFORNIA

Wikidata ID

Q64146695

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