Richard Menshausen

1931

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows a person standing on a paved surface, holding an axe in their right hand. The person is facing away from the camera. They have short hair and are wearing a hat, a short-sleeved shirt with suspenders, and dark trousers. The background is pitch black and there is grass visible in the foreground.

Media Options

This object’s media is not available for download. Contact us about image usage.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to image): 11.7 × 9.2 cm (4 5/8 × 3 5/8 in.)
    mount: 34.9 × 27.5 cm (13 3/4 × 10 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1949.3.710

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    233A

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    1403

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

Curious for more Alfred Stieglitz scholarship?

Discover over 1,000 artworks that the artist’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe termed his “Key Set” of prize photographs. Museum scholars have illuminated each work, his career, practices, and lifetime achievements.

Learn about the Key Set

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1983

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 3–May 8, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 17–August 14, 1983; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18, 1983–January 3, 1984

1995

  • Alfred Stieglitz at Lake George, Museum of Modern Art, New York, September 14, 1995–January 2, 1996

2010

  • Alfred Stieglitz: The Lake George Years, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2010

Bibliography

1983

  • Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, 1983: no. 116.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 2, cat. 1403.

2010

  • Annear, Judy, ed. Alfred Stieglitz: The Lake George Years. Exh. cat. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2010.

Inscriptions

by Alfred Stieglitz, on mount, lower left verso, in graphite: "Richard" / 1931
by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, upper left verso, in graphite: 233A

Wikidata ID

Q64035555

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

Richard Menshausen worked for the Stieglitz family at the Lake George house several days a week. Stieglitz described him as: “A real person with blue eyes—all sinew—57 years old—a worker—talks little” (Stieglitz to Arthur Dove, 23 June 1923, Arthur Dove Papers, AAA).

You may be interested in

Loading Results