WINSTON-SALEM, NC.-Reynolda House Museum of American Art presents the work of legendary photographer Dorothea Lange from Sept. 14 through Dec. 30, 2018. The exhibition, “Dorothea Lange’s America,” presents Lange’s haunting photographs of 1930s and 1940s America and features some of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

Throughout the season, Reynolda will invite the public to explore Lange’s art and the themes it evokes through a series of programs, complementary exhibitions at the museum and at Wake Forest University, and a collaboration with Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.

“Lange’s documentary photographs appeared in local newspapers, reaching both the masses across middle America and the lawmakers in our nation’s capital, becoming poignant catalysts for social change and, ultimately, highly valued works of art,” says Allison Perkins, Reynolda House executive director. “We identified this exhibition as an opportunity not only to appreciate the artistry of her photographs, but also to draw connections between their subjects and our communities today.”

Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection. LC-DIG-fsa-8b29516

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the most recognizable photograph of Lange’s career, “Migrant Mother,” made in 1936. Recently named the most downloaded photograph in the Library of Congress' archive, it is also one of the most arresting images ever created; its ensuing influence on photojournalism is incapable of measurement. The portrait of Florence Owens Thompson with three of her young children became a visual shorthand for the Great Depression and humanized its consequences for the public at large. Upon its original publication in a San Francisco newspaper, the image ignited a massive benevolent response: 20,000 pounds of food was delivered within days to the migrant camp where the photograph was made.

The need for greater awareness and response to persistent poverty in modern day America remains, according to Eric Aft, CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank.

“Contemporary poverty looks different from the poverty of Lange’s time, making it sometimes unrecognizable and hard to see,” he says. “But its impacts on children, on seniors, on families and on community health remain the same. We are grateful to work with Reynolda this season to honor these works of art from the 1930s by exploring what they can mean to us in 2018.”

All works in the exhibition are from the collection of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg.