Arthur Rothstein – Texas Markers

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Description

Arthur Rothstein grew up in the Bronx, in New York City, taking to photography as a youth. While at Columbia University, he met Roy Stryker, an economist and photographer who headed the Historical Section of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Depression.

Stryker hired Rothstein first to set up a darkroom for the FSA Historical Section, and then to work as a photojournalist for the Administration, where he joined Walker Evans, Gordon Parks, Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and other noted artists to document living conditions in the U.S. Rothstein’s assignments took him to the Texas Panhandle during the 1930s. His images depicted drought, eroded farmlands, dust storms, and failed agriculture. Rothstein’s photographs helped the public understand the impact of the Dust Bowl, and the need for soil conservation.

After 5 years with the FSA, Rothstein worked for the Office of War Information and U.S. Army Signal Corps in Asia, and in 1947 hired on with the magazine Look, where he served as its director of photography through 1971. Rothstein also was chief of photography for the periodical, Parade, and taught photojournalism at Columbia University.

Location Notes

A number of Rothstein's images of the drought and dust bowl years during the Depression were taken in Hartley County. Perhaps the Hartley county courthouse, in Channing, would be a good spot for a sign recalling that era and Rothstein's photography.

Files

Bibliography

Carl Fleischhauer and Beverly Brannan, ed. Documenting America, 1935-1943. (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1988).
Arthur Rothstein. The Depression Years as Photographed by Arthur Rothstein. (New York: Dover Publications, 1978).
Martin Sandler. Picturing a Nation: The Great Depression’s Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2021).