Dorothea Lange Was Cool

For a few days this past week / weekend my house was off the grid (more or less). Due to cable company problems, our house phone, internet, and cable was off. I thought it would be much worse than it was, but the only real problem I ran into was not being able to look up little things that popped into my head, or work on homework. Luckily the weather was nice, and it was all pretty peaceful. Of course, movies helped get us through the silence.

While I primarily relied on DVDs, I tried to watch what was on the few channels we could get without cable (while they weren’t blinking out). The TV gods were generous and Saturday morning I was able to catch most of a documentary about the famous photographer, Dorothea Lange. (Thank you PBS/CET Arts!)

This episode of American Masters talked about Dorothea both as a photographer and as a person. Her story was told through friends and family, and of course through photos.

Things I Learned:

-Dorothea has a bajillion more works other than Migrant Mother

-The subject of Migrant Mother was named Florence Thompson, who first did not like the attention her photograph got. Because of it, though, she later got donations sent to help her get better when she was terminally ill.

-Dorothea married a man named Maynard & later in life re-married to a man named Paul. They loved eachother very much.

-She became ill with cancer and Paul took care of her through it all.

-She died 3 months before her solo show at the Museum of Modern Art

-Her spirit/attitude reminded me of my grandma

-She was a cool lady

*The thing I watched was:      Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning - An American Masters Presentation