The Wanderer's Return, 1887

Key Set Entry

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Remarks

For information about Stieglitz's trip to Chioggia, where this photograph was made, see Key Set number 39.

In “A Day In Chioggia,” The Amateur Photographer 9, prize tour number (June 1889), 9, Stieglitz wrote: “It was now approaching the hour for our departure, so we started to return to our host and settle up accounts. As we approached the house, a very striking picture met our eyes. Upon inquiry, the landlord told us that the girl whose picture we had just taken was his youngest daughter, who had been enticed away from home, and had but shortly returned, filled with remorse, yet still carrying in her heart the picture of her lover, and dreaming over again the only romance of her life.”

This photograph and Key Set number 43 were made from the same negative, which Stieglitz produced using a Stegemann camera with a Steinheil Aplanat 19-inch lens and a Vogel-Obernetter plate. He developed the negative with hydroquinone, oxalate, and pyrosoda (see exh. cats., Berlin, 1889, and Society of Amateur Photographers, New York, 1891).

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

Hochschulbibliothek, Hochschule der Künst, Berlin

Museum Ludwig, Cologne

National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2006.3.1.11

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1888, Vienna (no. 52.A.5, as Heimkehr)
1889, Berlin (no. 81.1, as Die Heimkehr)
1891, New York (no. 230, as Returned, platinotype)
1892, Boston (no. 318, as The Wanderer’s Return)
1894, Paris (no. 476, as La Retour)
1898, Munich (no. 273, as Die Heimkehr)
1899, New York (no. 16, as Wanderer’s Return, 1887–1890, platinum direct)

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

William George Oppenheim, “Distinguished Photographers of To-Day,” The Photographic Times 23 (1 December 1893): 693 (ill., The Wanderer’s Return, photogravure)

John H. Janeway, “Why Do Silver Prints Fade?” The American Amateur Photographer 6 (January 1894): 7 (ill., untitled)

Catharine Weed Ward, “A Camera Trip in Great Britain,” The American Amateur Photographer 6: 9 (September 1894): 396 (ill., The Wanderer)

Inscription

by Alfred Stieglitz, on mount, lower left, in graphite: The Wanderer's Return (Venice — / 1887) / Platinum Print 1887 / Alfred Stieglitz; lower right: 1887

by later hand, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: 60 B / 60 B 60 B

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Bibliography

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 42.

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