The Bohemians: the people and the city that help shape the famous Dorothea Lange

The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik is the story of a young Dorothea “Dorrie” Lange as she steps off the train in 1918 San Francisco. There she meets Caroline Lee, a vivacious, straight-talking Chinese American with a complicated past. Their friendship gives Dorrie entry to Monkey Block, an artists’ colony and the bohemian heart of the city. Dorrie is launched into a new world of freedom, art and politics. There she meets the people who helped shape the art culture of the 1920s as well as meets and falls in love with the brilliant, yet troubled, artist Maynard Dixon. Eventually Dorrie and Caroline form a partnership and create a successful portrait studio. Unfortunately, the anti-Chinese and anti-immigration sentiment in the city will push their friendship to a breaking point and alter the course of their partnership and their lives. How will the experience in San Francisco help mold Dorrie into the Dorotha Lange we all know, the photographer who documented the Great Depression and gave the suffering a human face? 

I have known Dorothea Lange for her famous photograph titled “Migrant Mother” but I knew very little of her origins. Ms. Darznik brings the past to life as vivid and vibrant as those who lived it. The events, the attitudes and the corruption feels eerily familiar to today’s contemporary themes. The story also reminds us that the gift of friendship and the possibility of self-invention are still possible even in the most turbulent times. From the opening chapters to the closing epilogue, Ms Darznik weaves a story of Dorothea Lange that many are not familiar with. As we know her as the famous photographer, she began at a time when female photographers were unheard of and not taken seriously. I enjoyed seeing the famous names of the day pop in, like Ansel Adams as well as the events that helped push Dorothea to document the Great Depression as she did. The Bohemians is an awesome story and I highly recommended it. 

The Bohemians will be available April 6, 2021 in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook.