Arthur Rothstein was born in New York in 1915. Roy Stryker, the famous head of the photographic unit of the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration, FSA) had hired him (his first photographer hired) after seeing his talent in a set of copy photographs he had prepared for an agriculture project.

Stryker had come to Washington to create the FSA's Historical Section and document its activities. FSA was designed as a farm-aid organization to provide loans to farmers, sponsor land renewal programs, and assist migrant workers. Stryker's unforeseen but invaluable contribution to American art was to hire a number of talented photographers to join the project. Rothstein recalled years later, "....Stryker was visually oriented, ...and a firm believer in the power of pictures."

in 1940, Rothstein traveled to the migrant camps of California and found himself upset with the conditions of the camps and the interference of politics in the lives of the migrant farmers. On instructions from Stryker, he tried to show the positive aspects of how the camps operated and documented the camp at Visalia, California, as a model of success. In stark contrast in 1937, he traveled to Gee's Bend, Alabama. He found an isolated and primitive community whose speech, habits, and material culture partook of an African origin and an older way of life. Rothstein's approach showed Gee's Bend as the "before" in the Agency's rehabilitation plan. His photo's mostly illustrate the "primitive" mood of the place. The New York Time s carried an extensive article base on his photo's and praised the agency's work. In spite of the many efforts to modernize Gee's Bend, local historian, Katherine Tucker Windham reported in 1985, "They say, 'Ain't nothing ever happened."

In 1940 he was hired as a staff photographer for Look magazine and later became Look's director of photography until Look finished its' run in 1971. The following year, Rothstein joined Parade Magazine where he remained until his death in 1985.

This image is from "Bound for Glory, America in Color" and you can see more about the book by clicking on the image in the center, below

Medium : 1 slide : color

Created/Published : January, 1942

Creator : Arthur Rothstein, photographer, 1915-1985

Part of the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress

Availability: Special order: ships in 3-4 weeks

Product #: fsac1a34263