Before the Tavern

1890, printed 1895/1896

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

This is a photograph of a group of horses hitched to a cart on a street. The scene depicts four horses, two of which are prominently visible in the foreground, standing harnessed to a cart facing towards the right side of the image. The setting is a cobblestone street lined with buildings, one of which is clearly visible on the right side of the image, featuring multiple windows and a sign hanging above its entrance. The light indicates a bright day, casting shadows of the horses and the cart onto the ground. A tree is visible in the background. The overall tone is sepia. The image captures a moment when horse-drawn carts were a common means of transportation.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    platinum print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 11 × 15.3 cm (4 5/16 × 6 in.)
    page size: 27.2 × 34.4 cm (10 11/16 × 13 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.61

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    76A

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    67

Associated Artworks

See all 34 artworks
This is a photograph of two oxen yoked together in a field. The image depicts two oxen standing side by side in a field with a dirt-covered ground. The oxen are fitted with harnesses and a yoke. The background shows a distant horizon. The photo is in a grainy sepia tone.

An Idyll

Alfred Stieglitz

1887

The image shows a body of water with mountains in the distance. The point of view is elevated, capturing the shoreline and the water. A person leans towards a cow, holding its halter by the rocky shore. The horizon is high in the image, with the mountains forming a dark outline against the sky. The mountains appear as a soft silhouette due to the diffuse lighting. The image has a grainy and vintage texture. The color palette is monochromatic, with shades of gray and sepia. A small boat with figures is on the water, and a larger vessel is docked to the right.

The Unwilling Bath

Alfred Stieglitz

1887

This is an image of a blacksmith workshop. It shows a scene in front of a rustic building with textured stonework and arched doorways. There is a blacksmith’s anvil in the center, along with tools and a vice on a wooden bench. The entrance has an intricately carved arch. To the right, there’s a cart wheel, and sunlight casts shadows across the cobblestone. The setting conveys a sense of historical craftsmanship and rural life, with deep contrast and details in the photograph bringing out the texture of the building and ground.

Before the Smithy's

Alfred Stieglitz

1890

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 67.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, on interleaving tissue, upper right, in graphite: Before the Tavern / 1890

Wikidata ID

Q64037634

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

Stieglitz submitted this image to The Amateur Photographer’s “Travelling Studentship Competition” as Before the Wayside Inn. The journal notes: “all the negatives are un-retouched, and no cloud negatives are used. They have been taken with a Steinheil Aplanat. The plates used include Obernetter, Eosine, Schlenssn, Perulz (eosine), and Lumière. The developers have been pyro and soda and iron, and the whole of the prints have been produced in platinotype” (The Amateur Photographer 12 [18 July 1890], 41).

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:

1890, London, Gallery of the Society of Painters in Water Colours (no. 349, as Before the Wayside Inn)
1891, Hartford (no. 70, as Before the Inn (Near Vienna))
1891, New York, Fourth Annual Joint Exhibition (no. 302, as Before the Wayside Inn)
1891, New York, Society of Amateur Photographers (no. 219, as Before the Wayside Inn)

Lifetime Publications

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

Alfred Stieglitz, “The Hand Camera—Its Present Importance,” The American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1897 (New York, 1896): 21 (ill., A Hot Day)

W. I. Lincoln Adams, Sunlight and Shadow (New York, 1897): 71 (ill., A Hot Day)

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