Fleeing a Dust Storm Rothstein, Arthur, 1915-1985 Date Created/Published: 1936 Apr. This image is considered to be one of the best-known photographs of the Depression Era in America. Although the image implies that the photograph was taken during the height of a dust storm, it was actually staged; Rothstein directed the farmer and his sons to act out what a storm would be like. “He asked the boy on the right to put his arms over his eyes and the father and older son to lean forward as if walking into a powerful storm…While the photograph captures the dire circumstances in which many farmers found themselves, it is the result of what Rothstein called ‘direction in a picture story’ rather than a document of an actual dust storm.” Ref: Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont, USA. Fleeing a Dust Storm. Taken in April of 1936 to document the Dust Bowl, this image shows farmer Arthur Coble and his two sons in Cimerron County, Oklahoma during a dust storm. Arthur Rothstein brengt in deze foto de reden van de depression onder de aandacht, namelijk de na de eerste wereldoorlog verlaten akkers waar de stormen de vruchtbare grond vandaan waaien, zode akkers onvruchtbaar achter latend en de hulpeloosheid van de landbouwers, die zullen moeten vertrekken opzoek naar nieuw werk op vruchtbare plaatsen.. Hij gaat er van uit dat er nog een sprankel hoop is, hij laat de mensen van rechts naar links wandelen. Als hij de mensen van links naar rechts had laten gaan zou dit meer spanning in de foto hebben gebracht en zou de situatie uitzichtlozer aangevoeld hebben. Oplage 10