General Strike, San Francisco
1934
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 34.3 × 26.5 cm (13 1/2 × 10 7/16 in.) sheet: 35.5 × 27.7 cm (14 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Accession Number
2016.191.11
Art Historical Context
**General Strike, San Francisco** (1934) is a powerful gelatin silver print by Dorothea Lange, capturing the raw energy of one of America's most pivotal labor upheavals during the Great Depression. Printed from a negative on light-sensitive gelatin emulsion-coated paper, this medium allowed for rich tonal depth and sharp detail, hallmarks of early 20th-century documentary photography. Measuring 34.3 × 26.5 cm, the image freezes a moment from the San Francisco General Strike—a massive walkout sparked by waterfront workers demanding better wages and conditions, which paralyzed the city for four ...
About the Artist
Dorothea Lange · 1895–1965
Dorothea Lange, born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn on May 26, 1895, in Hoboken, New Jersey, overcame significant personal challenges to become one of America's most influential documentary photographers. Stricken with polio at age seven, she developed a lifelong limp that she credited with shaping her empathetic worldview, famously stating it "formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me, and hum...