Dorothea Lange
, American, 1895-1965
Title
Nora Kenneally at her Fireside, County Clare, Ireland, 1954Date1955
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions
23.3 x 30.8 cm
Credit LinePresented, in memory of John Eaglefeather Dixon, 2019
Object numberNGI.2019.209
DescriptionInspired by an anthropologist’s book, titled 'The Irish Countryman', Dorothea Lange persuaded the editors of Life magazine to hire her and her son Daniel Dixon to create a photo-essay about Ireland for their magazine. During fall of 1954, Dorothea Lange photographed for a month in Ireland, mainly in the western county of Clare. Here she met and befriended hard-working people of modest means who, unlike the tenant farmers and displaced migrants of the Great Depression, farmed and worked their family-owned land. With her son Daniel Dixon providing text, Lange submitted a story based on her photographs to Life magazine, 'Irish Country People', which was published (in a heavily edited form) in the March 21, 1955 issue.