Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Dorothea Lange
Plantation Overseer, Mississippi Delta, near Clarksdale, Mississippi 1936; printed (c. 1975)
gelatin silver photograph
25.3 × 33.5 cm (image) 28.0 × 35.4 cm (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1975
Public domain
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Where possible, the image must be reproduced in full (no cropping or over-printing). If you wish to use a detail of the work, a full reproduction of the work must also be reproduced elsewhere in the publication.
While the NGV believes this work to be in the Public Domain, it is the responsibility of the publisher to ensure that no further permissions are required for use.
For a complete list of terms and condition of use see the National Gallery of Victoria’s copyright policy.
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
Not on display
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