Terms and conditions of use
Plantation Overseer, Mississippi Delta, near Clarksdale, Mississippi
1936; printed (c. 1975)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
25.3 × 33.5 cm (image) 28.0 × 35.4 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1975
Public domain
Gallery location
Special Exhibitions Gallery
Ground Level, NGV International
About this work
This photograph was taken on Dorothea Lange’s first trip to the American South, where racial segregation was still legally enshrined. The composition – a group of African American workers taking a break while their white overseer stands in the foreground – captures the racial and economic tensions that Lange encountered in the South. Soon after it was taken, this image was reproduced widely in a range of publications, from the U.S. Camera Annual 1939 and poet Archibald MacLeish’s Land of the Free (1938) to African American writer Richard Wright’s 1941 book 12 Million Black Voices. Each publication presented Lange’s image differently, highlighting the complexity of seemingly objective ‘documentary’ photographs.
Artwork Details
Accession Number
PH94-1975
Department
International Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Daryl and Anne Whinney