Classic Photographs
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.)
By descent through family to the present owners
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
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.