Photographs in Context I

One way to weigh a photograph’s rhetorical impact is by reference to the situation in which it was created and rose to prominence. This week and next, we will be reading two essays that examine the work of photographers during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The first focuses on Dorothea Lange’s creation of “Migrant Mother”; the second (coming next week) will focus on photographs published in Life Magazine. Both essays are inspiring examples of historical analysis; both also have something to teach us about the complex interrelationship of photographer to subject, and photograph to audience.

Reading James Curtis, “Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression,” a 1986 essay published in Winterthur Portfolio. In preparation for discussion, please respond in writing as follows:

1. Curtis’ most startling revelation is that Lange posed her subjects carefully. Make a list of the ways that Lange altered and edited her subjects in the process of creating her masterpiece. Why does this seem to diminish our sense of her work’s meaning? Should it?
2. Is the later history of Florence Thompson relevant to our understanding of Lange’s photograph? Was the photograph diminished or enhanced by the loss of anonymity?