Scandinavian Homesteader, Great Plains, South Dakota
1939, printed 1950s
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 25.9 × 26.6 cm (10 3/16 × 10 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser
Accession Number
2016.191.115
Art Historical Context
**Scandinavian Homesteader Great Plains, South Dakota (1939, printed 1950s) captures the resilient spirit of American pioneers through the lens of Dorothea Lange, one of the 20th century's most influential documentary photographers. Taken during the waning years of the Great Depression this image portrays a Scandinavian immigrant homesteader amid the harsh, wind-swept landscapes of Dakota's Great Plains. Lange, working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA documented the human toll of the Dust Bowl era, highlighting rural poverty, migration, and endurance. Her empathetic approach elevated ...
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...