Comparing and Contrasting Two Images Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparing and Contrasting Two Images - Essay Example illions of Americans out of work and created the justification for more government intervention in business and society that continues today through the financial stimulus package. Photographs of desperate people during this terrible period in American business history abound but one of the most famous is that by Dorothea Lange which captured the sheer desperation of a mother who was worrying how to feed all her seven children (although only three were shown in that iconic photograph with the youngest still an infant). It is an unforgettable sad portrait. On the other hand, this photograph will be contrasted with a picture of another mother in a formal (official) historical portrait by an extremely talented female painter by the name of Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun who struck up a healthy friendship with her painting subject. It is a curious twist of history that the mother portrayed in this painting happened to be the queen of France named Marie Antoinette who was of Austrian origin but was married off to the French dauphin (heir apparent to the royal throne) at that time to cement the relations between the two countries of France and Austria. The French people soon soured of Marie Antoinette and killed her through the guillotine. These two photographs show how life can be unfair at times which in turn validates the old idiomatic expression of â€Å"thats the way the cookie crumbles.† Discussion – the first photograph is entitled â€Å"Destitute Pea Pickers in California† and it was taken by Dorothea Lange in Nipomo, California at around February or March of 1936. This was around the time when the depression was at its peak (the vicious cycle was at its worst time) and this photograph, alternatively called as â€Å"Migrant Mother† (Lange, 1936) by photograph enthusiasts, is considered as the most iconic of the Depression era. It captured the sheer sense of hopelessness, anxiety, and desperation which many Americans felt at that time but this one photograph