Gnarled Dead Tree
date: label: Date
content: 1851–52
name: label: Artist
content: Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Botanical sketch showing a view of a gnarled, dead tree, likely on Grand Manan Island in Canada. Dominating the composition, the tree is situated diagonally, from lower left to upper right. One of its primary boughs turns in the opposite direction at upper center and twists downward. In the background at left, an upright evergreen tree is loosely sketched.
label: Description
content: Verso: Botanical and figure sketches of a gnarled and dead tree, likely on Grand Manan Island in Canada, and two caricature heads. Situated diagonally along the composition's vertical axis, the tree has several twisting and pointed branches. At upper left, two caricature heads are include. The uppermost one is a head in profile, with large lips and nose, and bushy eyebrows. The other face below it--shown frontally--has an exaggerated, almost grotesque expression of anger. His heavily furrowed forehead emphasizes his furious, downward eyebrows that partially cover snake-like eyes. His cheeks, mouth, and jaw are downturned in an emphasized manner, and somewhat large ears stick out from a mostly bald head topped with a small tuft of hair.
place: label: place probably depicted
content: New Brunswick, Canada
label: probably made in
content: New Brunswick, Canada
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Louis P. Church
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1917-4-15-a
objectType: label: Type
content: nature studies
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Graphite on tan wove paper; verso: graphite
label: Dimensions
content: 44.6 × 30.8 cm (17 9/16 × 12 1/8 in.)