Arthur Rothstein Washington Photograph
Arthur Rothstein made some of the most significant documentary photographs ever taken of rural and small-town America.
These images were created during his years traveling throughout the nation on assignment for the US Farm Security Administration, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” agencies that restored and rebuilt an America devastated by the Great Depression.
In 1940, Rothstein joined the staff of Look magazine.
With the start of the WWll, Rothstein completed photojournalistic assignments for the US Army Signal Corps in China, Burma, and India.
After a short assignment for the United Nations, he returned to Look magazine, where he served as director of photography for 25 years during the Golden Age of post-war photo magazines.
He then held the same position for Parade magazine for 15 years, until his death in 1985.
During his years in magazine photojournalism Rothstein continued his own work, teaching, writing nine books as well as numerous newspaper and magazine columns on photography.
His photographs of America during the Great Depression were some of the most widely-published photographs of the 20th century, and are held in the collections of major museums around the world.
Fruit tramps from California who have come to the Yakima Valley for apple thinning, Yakima, Washington, 1936. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. Courtesy of Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project.
“Fruit tramps” is a term for independent, native-born American migrant farmworkers who followed the fruit and vegetable harvests, traveling in their own vehicles.
They were distinct from other migrant workers, often taking pride in their independence and skills, and living outside of conventional societal norms. Unlike many migrant workers who were part of a crew led by a crew chief, fruit tramps operated independently.
This Arthur Rothstein exhibit is made possible by the Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project.
