The Dying Chestnut Tree (Dead Tree, Lake George)

Alfred Stieglitz, American, 1864 - 1946

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1927

Gelatin silver print mounted on card

Sheet: 9 1/4 × 6 1/16 in. (23.5 × 15.4 cm)

Sheet: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Louise (Weezie) and John (Launny) Steffens, Class of 1963, Class of 1991P

2019.15

Geography

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

20th century

Object Name

Photograph

Research Area

Photograph

Not on view

Inscriptions

Signed, titled, and inscribed, in graphite, on original backing: Dead Tree - Lake George / (original print) / Alfred Stieglitz [underlined with slightly scrolled form]; labeled, on frame backing, lower right: BONNI / BENRUBI / GALLERY, INC [centered gallery logo, each line underlined] / Alfred Stieglitz [in bold] / Dead Tree, Lake George, circa 1925 [underlined] / Gelatin silver print / Signature and title on card [label information adjusted left] / 52 EAST 76th STREET / NEW YORK, NY 10021 [centered, line above address]

Label

After working in New York City for decades, pioneering photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz returned to his family home on Lake George, New York, turning his lens toward nature. As his health began to fail and his relationship with artist Georgia O’Keeffe faltered, Stieglitz continued to revisit this American chestnut, capturing its magisterial form, which remained undiminished in death. This mournful portrait of a tree, barren and dying, suggests a personal identification between artist and subject.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Art for Dartmouth, Citrin Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 14-November 25, 2019.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 12 - July 22, 2022.

Provenance

The Estate of Alfred Stieglitz; to Doris Bry (1923-2014); to Daniel Wolf, New York, New York; to Bonni Benrubi Gallery Inc., New York, New York; sold to John and Louise Steffens, New York, New York, about 1980s; given to present collection, 2019.

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