Ross Dickenson, “Valley Farms”, 1934, Oil on Canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum
“Dickinson was a young artist employed by the Public Works of Art Project when he created this magical image of California’s farm country. Water, green grass and swelling earth conjure the promised land that John Steinbeck would describe in The Grapes of Wrath a few years later. But Dickinson introduced disquieting details, as if to suggest that danger exists even in paradise. The tiny fire in the field at lower right, probably set to burn dry brush, echoes a massive column of smoke across the hills in the distance. The hills themselves have the orange-red look of the rainless months, when California’s mountains become tinderboxes, and fires can sweep down into the valleys. Dickinson’s painting captures the fear underlying America’s hopes for better days during the Depression.”
Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006