Black Maria, Oakland, from the series "Public Defender"

Dorothea LangeWW-1957-107377

1957·Gelatin silver print·39.3 × 37 cm (15 1/2 × 14 5/8 in.)

Known for her iconic images of the Great Depression, documentary photographer Dorothea Lange cultivated a photographic approach that was at once ruthless and empathetic. Between 1955 and 1957, she worked on a photo essay, Public Defender, which documented legal challenges for indigents accused at the Alameda County Courthouse, in downtown Oakland, California. Lange followed 36-year-old public defender Martin N. Pulich as he worked in his office, advocated in the courtroom, and visited clients in jail cells. Originally intended for Life magazine, the series was instead published as an uncredited four-page spread in a Filipino newspaper. In January 1966, just months after Lange’s death, a retrospective exhibition was mounted at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, featuring this stark image of a police van (called a “Black Maria”) along with three other photographs from Public Defender.

Catalogue

Year: 1957
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 39.3 × 37 cm (15 1/2 × 14 5/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Dorothea Lange

Artist

Dorothea Lange

Mixed Media

Dorothea Lange was an American photographer whose documentary practice defined the visual language of social reportage in the twentieth century. Working primarily in black-and-white photography, she created unflinching portraits of rural poverty, labor, and displacement, most notably during the Great Depression as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration. Her formal precision, psychological intensity, and ethical commitment to the dignity of her subjects established a foundational model for socially engaged photography. Her work remains central to the American photographic canon.

Hoboken, NJ, USA

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