Migrant Mother
The image was one of 6 taken by Lange at a camp site off the highway during the great depression. 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 February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a month's trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. This breath-taking image launched Lange’s career as it made it’s way through newspaper circulations everywhere.

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) is one of the most popular documentary photographers of all time; her insightful and compassionate photographs have exerted a profound influence on the development of modern documentary photography. Lange was employed by the U.S. government to take pictures of rural America during the depression, and she had lived in Berkeley. When she died, her husband donated her entire archive of negatives and personal papers to the Oakland Museum of California. The Art Department of the Oakland Museum now holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of her work, representing every facet of a long and varied career. The collection includes Lange's personal negative file of more than 25,000 images, over 6000 vintage prints, and a selection from Lange's personal papers and library.


A rare opportunity…

Drew Johnson, Curator of Photography at the Oakland Museum, has donated a unique chance to own a superb photograph by Dorothea Lange! You will receive a newly hand printed, fiber based exhibition print made from the original negative held in the Oakland Museum collection. It will be delivered complete with the Museum's seal of authenticity the back of the print.

Tom Brodehl, of Art Loft Framing, has performed his expertise and worked wonders to complaint the print with simple elegant touches, so not to distract from the fine art print. The photograph has been matted using the fineness quality, slightly toned white, deep beveled matting with classic black wooden framing. Tom has over 35 years experience at framing and Oakland Museum is one of his many regular clients.

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936
The Dorothea Lange Collection, Oakland Museum of California

The print, 11" x 14" Black and White (Oakland), is on double-weight, fiber based paper, hand spotted.