“THE DUST BOWL WAS LIKE A LANDSCAPE OF THE MOON” ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN

“THE DUST BOWL WAS LIKE A LANDSCAPE OF THE MOON” ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN

(Oklahoma – Photography) Rothstein, Arthur. FARMER, (ART COBLE) AND SONS WALKING IN FACE OF A DUST STORM. CIMARRON COUNTY, OKLAHOMA. APRIL 1936.

"I was about to get into my car when I turned to wave to [Coble and his two sons]," Rothstein later remembered. "And I looked and saw this man bending into the wind, with one of the boys in front of him and another one behind him, and great swirls of sand all around, which made the sky and the earth become one. And I said, 'What a picture this is!' and I just picked up my camera and went 'click.' One photograph, one shot, one negative." The image Rothstein captured at the Coble farm was soon widely reprinted across the country, touching emotional chords with everyone who saw it, becoming the iconic picture of the Dust Bowl and one of the most widely reproduced photographs of the 20th century.

“It was a picture that had a very simple kind of composition, says Rothstein, but there was something about the swirling dust and the shed behind the farmer. What it did was the kind of thing Roy always talked about – it showed an individual in relation to his environment.”

Born in New York City in 1915, the son of Jewish immigrants, Arthur Rothstein showed an early interest in photography. While studying at Columbia University, he met economics instructor Roy Stryker, who would later establish the photographic section of the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration) in Washington, DC. Appreciating Rothstein's technical proficiency and enthusiasm for photography, Stryker hired him in 1935 as the first staff photographer for the FSA. Praised for the directness and immediacy of his imagery, Rothstein produced notable photographic series on farming communities in the Midwestern Dust Bowl. Rothstein’s photographs captured both the hardships and resilience of rural America during one of its most challenging eras. Working alongside photographers such as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Mary Post Wolcott, Rothstein contributed to what would become one of the most influential documentary photography projects in American history. In 1936, Rothstein created one of his most iconic images, Fleeing a Dust Storm, in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. The photograph, which depicts a farmer and his two sons trudging through a blinding storm, became a powerful symbol of the Dust Bowl and the broader economic despair of the Great Depression. Throughout this period, Rothstein’s work balanced formal rigor with deep emotional impact, offering intimate glimpses into the lives of displaced families, tenant farmers, and laborers across the country. During his five years with the FSA, Rothstein shot some of the most significant photographs ever taken of rural and small-town America. After leaving the FSA in 1940, Rothstein took a position as photographer for Look magazine; he remained there until 1971, ultimately serving as the magazine's director of photography.

Silver Print, printed 1970’s. 10 ½ x 10 ¼ inches; sheet 11 x 14 inches. Title, credit and date in pencil and the Library of Congress hand stamp on verso. Vg cond.

Sources: International Center of Photography; Wikipedia; Holden Luntz Gallery; Ken Burns: The Dust Bowl.