Which Came First?
Stevan Dohanos, American, 1907 - 1994
Associated American Artists, New York
1948
Lithograph on wovepaper
250
Image: 12 × 9 11/16 in. (30.5 × 24.6 cm)
Sheet: 16 × 12 in. (40.6 × 30.5 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Julia L. Whittier Fund
PR.951.8
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Research Area
On view
Inscriptions
Signed, in graphite, lower left: Stevan Dohanos
Label
This mother hen sits next to her egg, illuminated by some unseen light. Her shadow projects behind her, and hay sprawls beneath her feet. Detailed in black-and-white, this print features an intimate moment in a coop. Its title, however, adds a layer of humor to it. Dohanos plays on the often-repeated causality dilemma: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The idiom refers to situations where cause and effect are ambiguous, and viewers might wonder the same about the work itself. Which came first, the title or the print?
From the 2026 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 128, You Just Got to Laugh, curated by Sara N. Shelton ‘26, Class of 1954 Intern
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 128, You Just Got to Laugh, Sara N. Shelton ‘26, Class of 1954 Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 10 - March 1, 2026.
Looking for America: Prints of Rural Life from the 1930's and 1940's, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 3, 1994-March 5, 1995.
Publication History
Barbara J. MacAdam, Looking for America: Prints of Rural Life from the 1930s and 1940s, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1994, listed no. 23.
Provenance
Associated American Artists, New York; sold to present collection, 1951.
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