Dorothea Lange's America

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Intimate photographs of people and land by Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) captured pride and resilience in the face of suffering during the Great Depression through the postwar period. Her work raised awareness and brought federal relief to struggling Americans while also influencing documentary photography by highlighting the camera as an instrument for social change. A new exhibition opening at the West Baton Rouge Museum features oversized exhibition prints of her seminal portraits from the Great Depression, including White Angel Breadline, Migratory Farm Worker, and, most famously, Migrant Mother—an emblematic picture (above) that came to personify the abject poverty in 1930s America. 

In conjunction:

• August 31: Dr. Claudia Kheel will give a lunchtime lecture focusing on the importance of Dorothea Lange’s Depression-era work, and that of her contemporaries, on a national and Congressional scale. Noon; free.

• September 7: Dr. Aaron Sheehan-Dean will lecture on Lives in the South, offering explanations for Lange’s photographs, and tracing rural southern stereotypes back to their origins. Noon; free. 

• September 1—22: A special book club will focus on John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, set during the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s. Karen Williams of LSU’s English Department will moderate. The book club kicks off September 1, from 10 am to noon, featuring a tour of the photography exhibit and a 1930s historic house, a panel discussion, and a book loan-out. The event wraps up on September 22 with a film screening and discussion. Register in person at the Museum or by calling (225) 336-2422 x15. 

All events take place at the West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 North Jefferson Avenue. westbatonrougemuseum.com.