Dorothea Lange

mounted, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the mount, numbered '34043-2' in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse, matted, framed, 1934

By descent to John Dixon, the photographer's son

Edwynn Houk Gallery, Chicago

Private Collector, San Francisco, acquired from the above, 1990

This early print, with a slightly warm tonality and on paper with a subtle surface sheen, is in generally excellent condition. There is light edge wear. When examined in raking light, slight silvering is visible in the dark areas of the print, as well as a ¼-inch indentation with what appears to be original retouching, in the lower left quadrant. Near the indentation is a very small, shiny, transparent deposit of indeterminate nature. The print is mounted to an unevenly-trimmed cream-colored board.
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This photograph was made by Lange in San Francisco, presumably during the strike of the maritime unions in 1934.  The year before, Lange had left the safety of her commercial portrait studio and begun her career as a documentary photographer.  In the early days of the 1930s, millions were unemployed across America, and in San Francisco Lange saw hundreds who were homeless, hungry, or without prospects.  The maritime strikes were by far the most violent symptom of the Depression to hit San Francisco, and it was a dangerous time to be photographing on the streets.  Protestors and police clashed repeatedly, exchanging volleys of bricks and teargas canisters.  The San Francisco waterfront was ultimately taken over by the National Guard after the particularly fierce clash of 5 July 1934, known as 'Bloody Thursday.' 

Lange, whose innate humanitarianism pervades the entirety of her oeuvre, photographed these events avidly.  As a commercial portrait photographer, Lange had depended upon her talent for photographing faces.  Much of her documentation of the 1934 strikes is done through her photographs of the participants' faces: the fiery labor organizers rallying the demonstrators, as well as individuals within the crowd.  All of the intensity of the situation and the desperation and need of the demonstrators is conveyed through Lange's photographs of faces. 

As with the classic images she would make later in the decade under the auspices of the Resettlement and Farm Security Administrations—Drought Refugees from Oklahoma in California (Lot 33) and Six Tenant Farmers Without Farms (Lot 135) among them—the photograph offered here shows Lange's ability to document hard times while simultaneously revealing the strength and dignity of her subjects.