Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange

Book Description

Dorothea Lange chose to work as a photographer during a time when family was supposed to come first for a woman. Like so many women, she had a husband and children to take care of--but no matter how hard she tried, family life could not substitute for the work she loved. Her passion was photographing people. During her career, Dorothea Lange captured some of the most desperate and beautiful faces America has seen in photographs. Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange includes over sixty of Lange's extraordinary photographs printed in high quality duotones, and chronicles Lange's life from her childhood on the Lower East Side of New York, through her early years as a portrait photographer in San Francisco, to her famous work for the government photographing starving migrant workers in California. Also included are her heart-breaking photographs of Japanese Americans interned on the West Coast during World War II. Author Elizabeth Partridge has woven Lange's own words into her book, creating not just another biography, but an intimate portrait of the artist who put faces on some of the darkest episodes in America's history. Restless Spirit presents a magnificent showcase of work that will not soon be forgotten. Dorothea Lange was Elizabeth Partridge's godmother and her father was Lange's photographic assistant in the 1930s.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Introduction to Lange--.......2005-11-25

This isn't the most comprehensive book on Dorothea Lange, a woman of some complication. However, it can be a great introduction and a stimulus to looking deeper into her life and work. Ms. Partridge brings a unique perspective to the book that 'outside' biographers can't offer. I've been a fan of hers since I grew up in the sixties; she spawned along with others, a new generation of activist photographers. Many of the photos in this book are standards to be found elsewhere. What I particularly enjoyed were the family photos which can't be found elsewhere. My overriding impression of this subject was a prickly and difficult woman who was driven by her problematic past, combined with genius and empathy that few have possessed. Recommended for anyone new to Lange and her work. Written for the younger reader.

Young Adult Non-fiction - a wonderful find for the classroom.......2000-08-17

Are you looking for non-fiction which is well-written and interesting, and covers topics over which students are generally tested for state proficiency or competency standards? This book fits all requirements. The author doesn't flinch at presenting the difficult, occasionally less-than-flattering side of the talented photographer, so that the reader comes away with a feeling of having met a "real" person, albeit one with tremendous talent. Yet, Partridge focuses on the life and times of her subject without "sensationalism". The book is well-written. Partridge never talks down to her readers, and her clear language and vocabulary should be well within the capabilities of 7th, 8th or 9th grade students. This book ties art, social studies and language arts together in perfect harmony for a study of the Depression Era of US history. Adults will enjoy this book as well.

A perfect 10.......2000-05-26

Well I love photography and for thoes of you who do this is the best book. Dorthea Lange was the best photographer and is obviously my favorite. This book tells the great story of her life and has great classic photos. I highly recomend this book

Average customer rating:

Ok book
Six women who shaped photography
In Real Life
A Great Book About Women Photographers
Simple Introduction to Six Outstanding Women Photographers

In Real Life: Six Women Photographers
Leslie Sills
Manufacturer: Holiday House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0823417522

Customer Reviews:

Ok book.......2007-05-25

Not all the Photographers in this book are in the same level, this is a pity.
I would like to see photographers like Annie Leibovitz and Diane Arbus aside Cindy Sherman, Dorothea Lang and Imogen Cunningham In a book titled "six women Photographers"
I have no problem with the other artist work in this book at all, they are interesting but other Important Photographers that are missing, Are the real problem.
Is a nice book but not "a must have"

Six women who shaped photography .......2005-11-01

In Real Life: Six Women Photographers (NY: Holiday House, 2002) by Leslie Sills celebrates the accomplishments of six well-regarded shutterbugs: Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Lola Alvarex Bravo, Carrie Mae Weems, Elsa Dorman, and Cindy Sherman. The carefully selected subjects represent many generations, cultures, and artistic motives.

With its strong feminist tone, the biographies show the struggles of women who must often balance motherhood and career, and choose between financial security and artistic freedom. Reinforcing this notion of sisterhood, Sills often uses the pronoun "she" to refer to all artists.

A sculptor and author of two other biographies on female artists, Sills lends her creative expertise to the passages. Her voice is one of lyricism, a refreshing approach for a non-fiction work. A few mistakes do surface in the text. The word "mission" is spelled incorrectly and there are a few inconsistencies with the verb tense.

The title offers actual examples of their work too-from black and white still shots of the early 1900s to the more abstract camera work of modern-day photographers. These images bolster the ideas set forth in the text. Unfortunately, some major works are included in discussion, but the image is omitted.

Some basics about cameras and words of advice for novices are included. Additionally, an extensive bibliography suggests further reading. The index is comprehensive, spanning three pages.

Indeed, younger children will enjoy the vivid photography. Still, this book is best suited for a fifth-grade or sixth-grade student, as they are old enough to understand some of the more abstract concepts, such as photography as a form of self-expression.

In Real Life: Six Women Photographers makes a great addition to any school or public library. The slender volume speaks to amateur photographers, those interested in the history of art, and young female readers who embrace "girl power"-making it one of those more-bang-for-your-buck books.

In Real Life.......2001-01-29

I have thoroughly enjoyed Leslie Sill's previous books on artists, and now her latest book on photographers. They are wonderful outlines of artist's lives, their work, and how their past experiences have influenced the direction of their art. As an art teacher, I try to incorporate different ways of introducing my students to a wide range of work. Because these stories are so well-written and inspiring, I have designed large portions of my curriculum around Sill's past books and look forward to using this book as well. The stories are thorough, yet written in a way that the average person, who may not necessarily feel that they have a valid knowledge on art, could walk away from it with a new understanding and interest. And just the opposite, for someone who is innvolved in art, this book is beautifully put together and would be a valued part of any art book collection.

A Great Book About Women Photographers.......2001-01-14

When I first read this book, I was moved by these women's lives. I was amazed at how they persevered at their art through all the hardships of life. I find Leslie Sills an amazing writer. This is not the first book I have read by her. I also have the one about painters, and by reading both books I felt that I learned alot. Leslie Sills is an amazing artist herself, and her own life should be the subject of a book someday. I would recommend this book to anybody, but particularly to people interested in photography or art.

Simple Introduction to Six Outstanding Women Photographers.......2001-01-03

Knowing that women artists in all fields tend to suffer from a lack of public exposure, I took a look at this volume hoping to find some good work that I had not seen before. My hopes were rewarded when all six photographers proved to be talented, interesting, and stylistically different from each other . . . and four of them were new to me. With the two artists I knew before, the biographical essays added to my knowledge, making every aspect of the book a pleasant surprise.

The book is organized around the concept that "cameras do copy which is front of the lens . . . [but these images are also] creations of the artist's intention and unconscious mind."

The essays are especially rewarding for their balance in explaining the artists' family lives, their relationships with the men in their lives, how they started into photography, their technique, and descriptions of their aesthetic values. Leslie Sills is pleasantly succinct:

Imogen Cunningham: "liked to examine life closely" and focused on "shapes, textures, patterns" in nature. She also captured the "essence" of people.

Dorothea Lange: The camera was an "activist tool" which "revealed the sufering of thousands and motivated others to help" during the Depression.

Lola Alvarez Bravo: Captured the real "Mexico after the Mexican Revolution" occurred there.

Carrie Mae Weems: Showed the "complexities of being human" especially in "squelching stereotypes" and "honoring African-American culture."

Elsa Dorfman: "Celebrates humanity" with her oversized camera that captures people to look more naturally like themselves than photographs normally do.

Cindy Sherman: Sees the camera as an "instrument to copy her constructed scenes" which are "puzzles that challenge her audience."

It has not been easy to be a woman photographer and these women succeeded because they persevered, as well as because they were so talented. Their stories are as inspiring as any I have read, and also tell an interesting tale of how your work can help you express your inner self.

Here are my favorite images from the book:

Imogen Cunningham:

Magnolia Blossom, 1925

My Father at 90, 1936

Morris Graves, Painter, 1950

Dorothea Lange:

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936 (Series of 3)

There is a wonderful description of how this series was shot on a day when Ms. Lange was exhausted and had driven past the migrant labor camp in the rain before deciding intuitively to turn back and try her luck.

Lola Alvarez Bravo:

Por culpas ajenas, c. 1945

Elsueno de los pobres 2, 1943

The Two Fridas, c. 1944

Carrie Mae Weems:

Mom at Work, 1978-1984

Untitled (Letter Holder), 1988-89

Her work also included long interviews with her family.

Elsa Dorfman:

Robbie and the Dinosaur Femur, 1970

Terri Terralouge and Aileen Graham, 1989

Cindy Sherman:

Untitled #224, 1990

Given that these styles are so different and so vivid, I encourage you to use this book to inspire you to create some art. It doesn't have to be photography. Whether you like to sketch, sculpt, paint, or make colored soap bubbles, give yourself the chance to live freer and take a little time to express yourself. You'll feel so much better, and the rest of us will be enriched by your gift.

Customer Reviews:

Very Informative.......2000-04-04

This book is very informative and filled with good solid facts. Any Dorthea Lange fan can appreciate this book.

American Photography and the American Dream (Cultural Studies of the United States)

Average customer rating:

American Photography and the American Dream (Cultural Studies of the United States)
James Guimond
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807843083

Book Description

James Guimond's powerful study reveals how documentary photographers have expressed or contested the idea of the American Dream throughout the twentieth century. In Guimond's formulation issues like growth, equality, and national identity came under the rubric of the Dream as it has been used to measure how well the nation is living up to its social and political ideals.

A pathbreaking book, American Photography and the American Dream examines the most important photographers and developments in the documentary genre during this century. It encompasses the reform-era images of Francis Benjamin Johnston and Lewis Hine; the work of Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographers like Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange during both the 1930s and 1940s after the FSA photography unit broke up; the American-Way-of-Life pictures published by Life, Look, and the United States Information Agency during the 1940s and 1950s; the iconoclastic images of William Klein, Diane Arbus, and Robert Frank; and the work of four photographers of the 1970s and 1980s: Bill Owens, Chauncey Hare, Susan Meiselas, and Michael Williamson.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and insightful.......2005-05-16

I very much enjoyed the choice of photographs that were included in this book: the trinity of "Migrant Mother", "Pledge of Allegiance", and "White Angel Breadline", along with other photographs that showed the range across time, space and subjects that formed the body of Lange's work. My only gripe with the photographs was the narrow crop used for "Pledge of Allegiance"; I much prefer the wider aspect ratio the Getty chose for their print.

The essays were mostly quite insightful, particularly the ones by people who knew her, the editor Partridge, her son Daniel Dixon, and Ansel Adams. I didn't get as much out of the essay by Sally Stein.

Overall this is a great book and the best I've seen to date on Lange's life and work.

Visually beautiful.......2001-07-04

Fascinating book about the famous photographer. A woman before her time in many ways. This is an honest account of what many who worked with her, lived with her and loved her thought OF her. The pictorial story of American life will capture your attention.

Succinct. Beautiful........1999-05-28

This book is put together in a way that allows readers to meet Dorothea Lange on different levels. On a personal level through family (or "just like" family) members, friends, and through Ms. Lange's own words (wonderfully used as text to complement her photographs). On a professional level, an interview with one of Ms. Lange's fellow photographers is included, along with chapter-long essays by those who have studied her work and life. I feel the strengths of this book are the organization, essays by those who knew Ms. Lange personally, and Ms. Lange's words.

Book Description

Dave Barry tackles the fitness industry in this classic spoof of health and diet books everywhere.AUTHORBIO: DAVE BARRY is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald journalist whose articles appear in hundreds of newspapers each week. He is the author of more than 20 books and lives in Miami, Florida.

Customer Reviews:

One of his best.......2006-09-15

Arte Johnson really brings the book to life! Not that it wasn't already funny enough, but Johnson's memorable character voices make it positively hilarious. If you are a Dave Barry fan, but haven't heard some of his older work, you definitely will want to get this one. I loved it.

Early Barry. . ........2001-11-03

Though not as good as his later works, definitely worth buying, though 'Dave Barry's Guide To Life' is also availiable... and contains this and three other works of similiar quality and length by the same author, while being slightly cheaper than this edition alone.
Recommended.

Get ready for guttural laughter.......2001-09-16

Classic Dave Barry! A short read that you will read twice (at least). Get ready for Dave Barry's usual hilarious views, this time on working out and staying fit. If you have a fitness area in your home of office, this book belongs there. Enjoy!

One of his best.......1998-11-25

"In the short space I have here, it's very difficult for me to explain all of your body's complexities and subtelties in any detail, or even get any facts right. For more information, I suggest you attend Harvard Medical School..." Along with Claw Your Way to the Top, this is my favorite Dave Barry book. Even the index is funny ("F" and "G", for example, contain the following fitness-related references: Ford, Gerald; Frequent Casual Motel Sex Diet, The; Godzilla; Gone with the Wind). Where else can you find a fitness test involving a scorpion and an elevator?

Dave Barry's Guide to Life (Contains: "Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex" / "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex" / "Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead" / "Claw Your Way to the Top")

Average customer rating:

Less enjoyable than the columns, but still funny
Vintage Barry.
Funny more often than not
Great Vintage Barry
Humor Dave Barry Style

Dave Barry's Guide to Life (Contains: "Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex" / "Babies and Other Hazards of Sex" / "Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead" / "Claw Your Way to the Top")
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Wings
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0517203553
Release Date: 1998-10-06

Customer Reviews:

Less enjoyable than the columns, but still funny.......2007-08-12

I was first blown away by Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, a selection from his often hilarious (occasionally in a surreal way) column. This follow-up purchase was my cheapskate way of getting four books in one omnibus (and hardcover no less) edition: at amazon someone sold the book for something like a cent and all I paid was standard postage.

Well, next time I'll be a bit less frugal and fork out for another collection of his columns. The `Guide to Life' books were still amusing, occasionally laugh out loud, but not quite at the same standard. I think the short column format suits Barry better than sticking to one theme for an entire book. He earns his money, but at times it seems to require more effort to squeeze out all the pages; whereas at his best his columns feel like he's just joyously ranting on a theme he doesn't have to sustain for any length of time before being distracted by something else.

It's a bit of a time piece too - although for anyone who lived through the 80s that can be an enjoyable feature. That being said, it's interesting how many things still ring true, even raves about computers with a fraction the RAM but disturbingly similar frustrations.

Vintage Barry........2003-06-27

This is an omnibus edition containing four semi-related examples of Dave Barry's early, fairly short works: Dave Barry's Guide To Marriage and/or Sex, Babies and Other Hazards of Sex, Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead, and Claw Your Way To The Top.

The humor is mostly some of Dave's better stuff, although I thought that the first two sections were funnier than the last two; still, even those are well worth reading. Overall, about on a par with "Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need".

Funny more often than not.......2001-11-08

I bought this as a gift for a friend, who just happens to be an expectant mother. She was showered with "how to" books on raising babies, so I thought I would give her one more -- the Dave Barry guide. I started reading it, and ended up chuckling more often than not. A recommended read to someone who wants a laugh, and enjoys Dave Barry's outrageous writing style.

Great Vintage Barry.......2000-05-21

Much of this was written back before Dave Barry was a name brand humorist. I can remember buying copies of the babies book years ago to give to all of my pregnant friends. This is typical Barry-- pointed, free-wheeling, funny and immediately recognizable as pieces of truth that most people are too polite to mention. Written as books, these are often more sustained than the column collections, and written Back In The Day, they don't have to live up to any rep or expectation. These books are part of what MADE Dave Barry's national following.

Humor Dave Barry Style.......2000-03-25

This book was full of the typical hilarity found in Dave Barry's writing. The "Babies" portion had me rolling on the floor. As a mother of two young children, I was able to find humor in the most mundane of baby/toddler activities. The section on putting your baby to bed rang true and was best illistrated by the lulaby line "stay asleep until at least 6:30 am." The rest of the book followed the same kind of humor and is a definite read for anyone who wants a good laugh out of life

Average customer rating:

Stay Fit & Healthy Until You're Dead
Dave Barry
Manufacturer: Rodale Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GRCQI6

Average customer rating:

Stay Fit & Healthy Until You're Dead
Dave; Illustrated by O'brien, Jerry Barry
Manufacturer: Rodale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JZZI4Y

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