The Dying Chestnut Tree
Alfred Stieglitz, American, 1864 - 1946
Geography:
Photograph taken in New York, Lake George, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1927Medium:
Gelatin silver printDimensions:
Image and sheet: 9 1/2 x 7 9/16 inches (24.1 x 19.2 cm) Mount: 22 3/16 x 18 1/8 inches (56.4 x 46 cm)Copyright:
© The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
1949-18-85Credit Line:
The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
Photograph taken in New York, Lake George, United States, North and Central America
Date:
1927Medium:
Gelatin silver printDimensions:
Image and sheet: 9 1/2 x 7 9/16 inches (24.1 x 19.2 cm) Mount: 22 3/16 x 18 1/8 inches (56.4 x 46 cm)Copyright:
© The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1949-18-85Credit Line:
The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
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This large print presents a sharp contrast to the smaller, lusher nature studies that Stieglitz made at his Lake George retreat. He created several tree series over the years, turning his camera to apple trees, birches, a maple, this chestnut, and, in the 1930s, the poplar trees on the property. In 1932, he exhibited a group of images of this imposing tree under the general title The Dying Chestnut Tree-My Teacher, suggesting it held special meaning for him. Some of its branches end bluntly in stumps while others fan out like desperate, grasping fingers. Stieglitz photographed the tree again around 1937, shifting the title to The Dead Chestnut Tree.
