Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning is a film about the life, loves and work of photographer, Dorothea Lange, known for her famous image “The Migrant Mother”.
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning is a film about the life, loves and work of photographer, Dorothea Lange, known for her famous image “The Migrant Mother”. The film, directed by her granddaughter, Dyanna Taylor, aired on the PBS series American Masters.
Beyond a narrative of America’s 20th century, this film is more than a biographical re-telling of an artist’s life. It illuminates the decades of the 1920’s-1960’s while revealing the personal price of Lange’s photographic achievements. Her willful and strenuous preparations for her groundbreaking solo photographic exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in NY is syncopated by her story, inviting you to look closely at Lange’s muses – her two husbands Maynard Dixon and Paul Taylor – her family dynamics, and her mission with her true muse – the camera. We see her great silver gelatin successes, and at times her personal failures. As the film reveals the surprising breadth of her work, it also reveals the will and sacrifices behind a creative life.
