b. 1915 New York City, d. 1985
photographer
American

"Because powerful images are fixed in the mind more readily than words, the photographer needs no interpreter. A photograph means the same thing all over the world and no translator is required. Photography is truly a universal language, transcending all boundaries of race, politics and nationality."

--Arthur Rothstein

Born in New York to immigrant parents, Arthur Rothstein began to photograph in college at Columbia University, where he founded the university's camera club. Upon graduation, Roy Stryker hired him as the first photographer on the staff of the Farm Security Administration, where he became famous for his images of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. Five years later, in 1940, he became a staff photographer for Look magazine; he later became its director of photography, lasting until the magazine's demise in 1971. The following year he joined Parade magazine, serving in various capacities until his death. During that period he also taught photography and was a founding member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, editing its in-house periodical for a year. Rothstein authored seven books about photojournalism that featured his images.