Watching for the Return

1894

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

This is a photograph of a coastal village scene. The image depicts a group of women and children facing outwards towards the sea. They are wearing traditional attire consisting of long dresses and headscarves. In the background, there are several buildings typical of a coastal town, with pointed rooftops and simple architecture, alongside a few other buildings and structures further away. The photograph has a sepia tone.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    carbon print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.9 x 34 cm (7 1/16 x 13 3/8 in.)
    sheet: 18.4 x 34.5 cm (7 1/4 x 13 9/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.208

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    106B

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    224

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. 224.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, lower left, in graphite: AS
by later hand, on mount, lower right, in graphite: #1

Wikidata ID

Q64034742

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

For Stieglitz’s description of Katwijk, see Key Set number 206.

Other Collections

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

National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2006.133.124

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:

1896, London (no. 262, as Watching for the Return)
1899, New York (no. 31, as Watching for the Return, 1894, photogravure)
1901, Glasgow (no. 116, as Watching for the Return)
1902, New York (no. 128, as Watching for the Return, 1894)
1902, Turin (no. 63, as In attesta del ritorno)
1903, Minneapolis (no. 7, as Watching for the Return)
1903, Toronto (no. 14, as Watching for the Return)
1903, Brussels (no. 434, as Watching for the Return)
1903, Hamburg (no. 427, as Watching for the Return, carbon)
1903, San Francisco (no. 31, as Watching for the Return)
1903, Denver (no. 149, as Watching for the Return)
1904, Washington (no. 134, as Watching for the Return)
1904, Pittsburgh (no. 225, as Watching for the Return)
1904, The Hague (no. 123, as Watching for the Return)
1909, Dresden (no. 167, as Watching for the Return)
1910, Buffalo (no. 426, as Watching for the Return, Katwyk, 1894, carbon)
1913, New York (no. 4, as Watching for the Return, 1894)

Lifetime Publications

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

The Photographic Times 28 (January 1896): 1 (ill., Watching for the Return, photogravure)

Wiener Photographische Blätter 3:10 (October 1896): between 188 and 189 (ill., In Erwartung der Heimkehr)

Walter Colls, ed., Pictorial Photographs: A Record of the Photographic Salon of 1896

‘Erwartung’ von Alfred Stieglitz, Photographisches Centralblatt 5 (1899): between 412 and 413 (ill., Erwartung)

Photographische Rundschau 16:12 (1902): unpaginated (ill., Erwartung, photogravure)

Joseph Keiley, “American Pictorial Photographers. Alfred Stieglitz,” Photography 17:797 (20 February 1904): 159 (ill., Waiting for the Return of the Boats)

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