At five o’clock on that April morning, the city of San Francisco had just begun to stir from its slumber. A mere fifteen minutes later, the entire city was in turmoil as it shook with the force of a massive earthquake. For days, what was left of the city would burn.

On Sacramento Street near Chinatown, the great disaster has driven citizens of all ethnicities and classes from their homes and, as one, they head for safer ground, unsure what the next few hours will bring. This is, perhaps, the defining element of the image, the balance between the human and emotional character of the composition with the magnitude of the historic event.

Collectors with their finger on the pulse of the art world already know that Mian Situ’s star is rising fast. At the Autry National Center’s 2008 Masters of the American West Fine Art Exhibition and Sale the original painting, which had a reserve price of $150,000, sold for $576,100. Situ was also the first recipient of the Gene Autry Memorial Award, given in recognition of the most outstanding presentation of three or more works.