Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Dorothea Lange's Three Mormon Towns
Known for her candid and sympathetic depiction of people, Dorothea Lange (1895-1965) is one of the most revered photographers of the twentieth century. For more than four decades she explored the human psyche through portraiture and documentary photographs. The probing portraits of her early career prepared Lange to photograph the people involved in the tumultuous events of the San Francisco labor strikes of 1934, the Great Depression, and the Japanese internment during World War II.
Her 1935 photograph Migrant Mother is an icon of American culture. Although Lange struggled with debilitating illness during the last twenty years of her life, she experienced periods of remarkable productivity. Lange worked as a staff photographer for Life Magazine from 1953–54, completing assignments in Utah and Ireland. She also traveled and photographed abroad in Asia and Africa, accompanying her husband. She died of cancer in October of 1965, just three months prior to her retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1953, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams traveled to southern Utah to create a photo essay for Life magazine. Although, considerably different in their style of photography and choice of subject, the two photographers had been close friends throughout their adult lives and had worked together on a number of projects. They spent three weeks in Utah photographing the people, landscape and architecture in and around Gunlock, St. George and Tocquerville, Utah.
The picturing of religious communities was a long-term interest of Dorothea Lange. In 1940, Lange received a Guggenheim fellowship to support her photographing life in various religious communities. Among those she intended to document were the small towns of southern Utah and the Amana Society in Iowa. The onset of WWII disrupted this project and Lange was never able to complete the work. Before her assignment with Life magazine, Lange had previously traveled in southern Utah, first with her family in 1933, and a few years later photographing for the Farm Security Administration. Finally in 1953, Lange was able to return to the place that had captured her attention decades earlier.
Lange and Adams’ enthusiasm for the locale collectively yielded over 1,100 images, which were painstakingly edited down to the 36 photographs published in the September 6, 1954 issue of Life. Lange’s son Daniel Dixon traveled with the two photographers and wrote the text that accompanied the photographs.
The Museum of Art was given the unique opportunity to purchase a group of 17 photographs from Lange’s “Three Mormon Towns” series. The photographs come from the personal collection of Lange’s younger son John Dixon. MOA Photography Curator Diana Turnbow first met John and his wife Lolita during the museum’s exhibition of Maynard Dixon’s work in 2000–2001. Over the ensuing years, the Dixon’s friendship with the museum has been strengthened through visits, correspondence and collaboration on a short documentary video.
For some time, John and Lolita had hoped to see a Utah museum acquire the “Three Mormon Towns” photographs and patiently waited until the Museum of Art was in a position to purchase the work. Six of the seventeen photographs being purchased appeared in the original Life magazine layout.
In selecting the photographs to be purchased, Turnbow selected images that had recognizable elements of Lange’s style as well as images that documented the unique components of these Mormon communities. A number of the photographs demonstrate Lange’s strength as a portrait photographer and her ability to capture her subjects in candid, expressive moments within their environment. Other photographs capture architectural elements, landscape and material details that defined the Mormon agrarian culture at mid-century.
The acquisition of these photographs, along with a gift from the Dixons of four additional photographs from the “Three Mormon Towns” series, is a tremendous addition to the museum’s photography collection. This acquisition brings to the museum one of America’s most celebrated photographers capturing Mormon Utah culture with sensitivity, and is an eloquent foil to the many paintings of southern Utah by Maynard Dixon in the collection. Principal financial support
for the purchase was provided by an anonymous donor.
Her 1935 photograph Migrant Mother is an icon of American culture. Although Lange struggled with debilitating illness during the last twenty years of her life, she experienced periods of remarkable productivity. Lange worked as a staff photographer for Life Magazine from 1953–54, completing assignments in Utah and Ireland. She also traveled and photographed abroad in Asia and Africa, accompanying her husband. She died of cancer in October of 1965, just three months prior to her retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1953, Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams traveled to southern Utah to create a photo essay for Life magazine. Although, considerably different in their style of photography and choice of subject, the two photographers had been close friends throughout their adult lives and had worked together on a number of projects. They spent three weeks in Utah photographing the people, landscape and architecture in and around Gunlock, St. George and Tocquerville, Utah.
The picturing of religious communities was a long-term interest of Dorothea Lange. In 1940, Lange received a Guggenheim fellowship to support her photographing life in various religious communities. Among those she intended to document were the small towns of southern Utah and the Amana Society in Iowa. The onset of WWII disrupted this project and Lange was never able to complete the work. Before her assignment with Life magazine, Lange had previously traveled in southern Utah, first with her family in 1933, and a few years later photographing for the Farm Security Administration. Finally in 1953, Lange was able to return to the place that had captured her attention decades earlier.
Lange and Adams’ enthusiasm for the locale collectively yielded over 1,100 images, which were painstakingly edited down to the 36 photographs published in the September 6, 1954 issue of Life. Lange’s son Daniel Dixon traveled with the two photographers and wrote the text that accompanied the photographs.
The Museum of Art was given the unique opportunity to purchase a group of 17 photographs from Lange’s “Three Mormon Towns” series. The photographs come from the personal collection of Lange’s younger son John Dixon. MOA Photography Curator Diana Turnbow first met John and his wife Lolita during the museum’s exhibition of Maynard Dixon’s work in 2000–2001. Over the ensuing years, the Dixon’s friendship with the museum has been strengthened through visits, correspondence and collaboration on a short documentary video.
For some time, John and Lolita had hoped to see a Utah museum acquire the “Three Mormon Towns” photographs and patiently waited until the Museum of Art was in a position to purchase the work. Six of the seventeen photographs being purchased appeared in the original Life magazine layout.
In selecting the photographs to be purchased, Turnbow selected images that had recognizable elements of Lange’s style as well as images that documented the unique components of these Mormon communities. A number of the photographs demonstrate Lange’s strength as a portrait photographer and her ability to capture her subjects in candid, expressive moments within their environment. Other photographs capture architectural elements, landscape and material details that defined the Mormon agrarian culture at mid-century.
The acquisition of these photographs, along with a gift from the Dixons of four additional photographs from the “Three Mormon Towns” series, is a tremendous addition to the museum’s photography collection. This acquisition brings to the museum one of America’s most celebrated photographers capturing Mormon Utah culture with sensitivity, and is an eloquent foil to the many paintings of southern Utah by Maynard Dixon in the collection. Principal financial support
for the purchase was provided by an anonymous donor.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wide-Open Spaces 2
Walter Ufer, The Washer Woman, oil on canvas,
24 7/16 x 29 7/16 in. Courtesy of Diane and Sam Stewart
Wide-Open Spaces 1
Gerald Curtis Delano, Canyon Scene, oil on canvas
7 3/4 x 9 11/16 in. Courtesy of Diane and Sam Stewart.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Scholarship in Print
Listen to Jesse D Hurlbut, an associate professor of French studies at BYU and a contributor to Pageants and Processions: Image and Idiom as Spectacle talk to KBYU FM's Thinking Aloud about his research into medieval pageants and processions.
Listen to Jesse Hurlbut talk about his research
Listen to Jesse Hurlbut talk about his research
Capitol Discovery
Embarkation of the Pilgrims is Robert Weir’s most famous work. It depicts the Pilgrims on the deck of the ship Speedwell before they departed for the New World from Delft Haven, Holland, July 22, 1620.
See images and read more about the mural in the Capitol Rotunda by Robert Weir
See images and read more about the mural in the Capitol Rotunda by Robert Weir
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