12 june- 3 october 2021
In 1998, the Hôtel Sully in Paris hosted the Dorothea Lange exhibition, consisting of 170 photographs by the famous American photographer. The exhibition was curated by Sam Stourdzé, who had 36 silver prints made for the occasion from negatives held by the Oakland Museum of California. Sam Stourdzé, particularly attached to Arles, both personally and as the former director of the Rencontres de la Photographie, offered to donate these prints to the Musée Réattu.
They cover the period 1933-1940, from the first street photographs taken by Dorothea Lange in San Francisco to the sets corresponding to the missions she carried out from 1935 onwards for the Resettlement Administration, which in 1937 became the Farm Security Act. With Paul Taylor, her husband, they travelled the roads, visiting the camps of pea pickers, melon pickers, the exploited and the unemployed. In 1939, they published the mythical work American Exodus, an edition of which, with commentary by Sam Stourdzé, was republished in 1999.
Dorothea Lange has not been part of the museum’s collections until now. This exhibition-dossier, therefore, celebrates the event by presenting an initial selection of images.
