Dorothea Lange
Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California

ArtistAmerican, 1895–1965
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California
  • Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California
DateMarch 1936, printed 1976
Place depictedNipoma, California, United States
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 × 10 7/16 in. (34.3 × 26.5 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 11 in. (35.4 × 27.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. Alvin S. Romansky
Object number76.396
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
ProvenanceLibrary of Congress, Washington, DC; purchased by MFAH, 1976.
Exhibition History"In Our Time: Houston's Contemporary Arts Museum 1948-1982," Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, October 23, 1982–January 2, 1983.

"The 150th Anniversary of the Invention of Photography: Prague 1989," Manes Center of the Union of Czechoslovak Creative Artists, Prague, c/o U.S.I.A., Washington, D.C., August 1–September 30, 1989.

"Introducing America to Americans: Depression-era Photographs from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, June 10–September 9, 2017.

"Norman Rockwell: American Freedom," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 15, 2019–March 22, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, verso, top right: RS 53142 [underlined] // F34_9058
Stamped in black ink, verso, center: Reproduced from the collection of the Library of Congress [upside down]
Inscribed in pencil, verso, bottom right: Lange

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Migratory Field Worker Picking Cotton in San Joaquin Valley, California
Dorothea Lange
1938, printed 1970s
Gelatin silver print
2020.43
Drought Refugees from Oklahoma, Blythe, California
Dorothea Lange
August 1936, printed 1976
Gelatin silver print
76.395
Spring plowing. Guadalupe, California. Cauliflower fields
Dorothea Lange
March 1937, printed 1976
Gelatin silver print
76.398
Filipinos cutting lettuce. Salinas Valley, California
Dorothea Lange
June 1935, printed c. 1965
Gelatin silver print
2006.641
Woman of the High Plains, Texas Panhandle
Dorothea Lange
1938, printed 1965
Gelatin silver print
2021.285
Tenant farmer, Chatham County, North Carolina
Dorothea Lange
1939, printed 1970s
Gelatin silver print
2020.44
Resettled farm child from Taos Junction to Bosque Farms project, New Mexico
Dorothea Lange
1935, printed 1970s
Gelatin silver print
2020.45
First Born (Gregor)
Dorothea Lange
February 1952
Gelatin silver print
2000.74