Dorothea Lange's reputation as the most astute photographic chronicler of the Great Depression provides ample reason to examine two of her photographs of hoboes and transients, both as prelude and accompaniment to Harry Partch's musical journal Bitter Music. In many ways, these three works of art achieve a certain synergy. Partch's words reveal the minds of the men Lange's camera captured, sharing their passions, their failures, their sense of humor, their sense of themselves and of the world around them, and all the quixotic depths of their characters. His music floats their words through time to conjure them afresh for us. Lange's photographs bring concrete reality to Partch's words. Here, in black and white, are the men of whom Partch wrote. The slope of their shoulders, the tilt of their heads, the condition of their clothes—all say something about their lives. And, beyond anything Lange's work unveils about Bitter Music, by delving into her choice of images for the FSA, the Depression-era perception of homeless wanderers becomes abundantly clear.

The first photograph, Lange's “Toward Los Angeles, California. 1937” (fig. 3.1), has two prominent features. The first to catch the viewer's eye is the human component: two men walking a dusty, deserted road. Their backs face the viewer and their heads are bowed.