Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936 (print)

Migrant Mother, a timeless image of hardship and courage and Dorothea Lange’s most iconic image, was made under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) initiative during America’s Great Depression. While walking through a pea picker’s camp on the way home from an FSA field trip; Lange noticed this thirty-two year old woman with her seven children. There was no work and they were living on wild birds caught by the children. She could not move on, she told Lange, because she had sold the tires from her car for food. The second photogravure edition of Migrant Mother, printed by Aperture in conjunction with the Dorothea Lange Collection of the Oakland Museum, California, is an excellent addition to any collector’s portfolio.