The Dying Chestnut
1919
Artist, American, 1864 - 1946
Artwork overview
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Medium
gelatin silver print
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
image: 24.3 × 19.3 cm (9 9/16 × 7 5/8 in.)
sheet: 25.2 × 20.2 cm (9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in.)
mount: 50.7 × 38.1 cm (19 15/16 × 15 in.) -
Accession
1949.3.439
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Stieglitz Estate Number
18C
Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition
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Key Set Number
617
Alfred Stieglitz
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Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.
Associated Names
Bibliography
1991
Peters, Sarah Whitaker. Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years. New York, 1991: pl. 58.
2002
Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 617.
Inscriptions
by Alfred Stieglitz, on mount, upper left verso, in graphite: Exhibition
by later hand, on mount, upper right verso, in graphite: no. 81 (formerly 81 - 107, - 107 erased)
by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: 18 C
Wikidata ID
Q64034955
Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data
Remarks
“There is a great Chestnut Tree up on the Hill—some 150 yards behind the house.—It’s a majestic fellow attended only further down—not too near, by a smaller tree.—Possibly a concubine.—Well, the old fellow has been dying for some years. — And as the end nears he seems to become more majestic—more magnificent. It’s the tree I photographed last year. — A cry of the Human Soul—unheard—alone —” (Stieglitz to John Marin, 2 November 1920 [YCAL]).
In 1924 Georgia O’Keeffe made paintings of the same tree. See The Chestnut Red and The Chestnut Grey (Lynes 472 and 473).
Stieglitz Collections
A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:
The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.770
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:
1921, New York (no. 81, as The Dying Chestnut, 1919)