Classic Photographs

Arthur Rothstein

'Dust Storm, Oklahoma'

Lot Closed

October 5, 03:39 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Arthur Rothstein

1915 - 1985

'Dust Storm, Oklahoma'

gelatin silver print, flush-mounted to Fineline Illustration Board, signed, titled, dated, and annotated 'FSA - 4052' in ink and with a typed 'Art Lending Service of The Museum of Modern Art' label on the reverse, framed, 1936, printed circa 1960

image: 13 ⅝ by 13 ⅝ in. (34.6 by 34.6 cm.)

frame: 20 by 19 ½ in. (50.8 by 49.5 cm.)

Collection of Shirley Carter Burden

By descent through family to the present owners

The Depression Years, As Photographed by Arthur Rothstein (New York, 1978), p. 19

Arthur Rothstein, Arthur Rothstein: Words and Pictures (New York, 1979), p. 38

Roy Emerson Stryker and Nancy Wood, In This Proud Land: America 1935-1943, as Seen in the FSA Photographs (Greenwich, Conn., 1973), p. 179

Barbara Haskell, The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900-1950 (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1999), p. 246

Quentin Bajac et al., eds., Photography at MoMA: 1920 - 1960 (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2016), pl. 157

Fullerton Junior College, 29 Photography Greats: A Photographic Exhibition, December 1967 - January 1968

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Shirley C. Burden Photographic Collection, February - April 1978

In 1951, the Museum of Modern Art established its Art Lending Service as a forum to educate young collectors about modern art. It allowed the public to rent a piece of art, each selected by a trustee advisory committee in consultation with MoMA's curators, for a two-month period before deciding to purchase the work or return it.

The ALS label on the reverse of Rothstein's iconic image most likely dates from the 1950s or early 1960s.