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Comparison of 2 Photographs

, among which "Migrant Mother, California" (1936) is but one, have been characterized as succeeding in "evoking sympathy for, and identification with, her subjects, thereby achieving her political goals" (Adams, 1994, p. 491). Janson (1986, p. 777) notes that Lange took this picture at a pea-pickers' camp in Northern California where she discovered some 2,500 virtually starving migrant workers. The "migrant mother" of this picture was one of these starving migrants, later identified as Florence Thompson. The photograph was published in a news story no the plight of these migrants, and the government then rushed in food and medical care, eventually opening migrant relief camps (Janson, 1986, p. 777).

More than any Social Realist or Regionalist painting,

'Migrant Mother, California (1936)' has come to stand

for that entire era. Unposed and uncropped, this photograph

has an unforgettable immediacy no other medium can match.

This photograph presents a strong vertical line, created by the arm and face of the centered woman, whose body is strategically lighted to direct the eye of the viewer from the bottom center of the photograph to her face, also lighted strongly. The mother is banked on both sides by young children, their bodies and heads turned away from the eye of the camera and hidden from view. Though informally posed, the composition is balanced (if stark). The use of lighting to emphasize the desperate resignation in the woman's face and her arm (seen supporting her chin establishes mood and emotion. The strong, if subtle, horizontal lines created by the woman's furrowed brows and mouth further balances the composition and serv

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Comparison of 2 Photographs. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:29, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1683797.html