Front / Recto

  • Title Landscape with Birch Trees
  • Negative Date 1910s
  • Print Date 1927
  • Medium Gum dichromate over platinum print
  • Dimensions Image 7 5/8 × 9 5/8" (19.3 × 24.4 cm)
    Mount 19 × 14 5/16" (48.2 × 36.3 cm)
  • Place Taken Stockbridge
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Mina Turner, by exchange
  • MoMA Accession Number 1854.2001

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type Mount (original)
  • Marks and Inscriptions Signed in pencil on sheet recto, bottom right: George H. Seeley/'27. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, top left: G-1/I-9/9. Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, bottom left: I693.
  • Provenance The artist; to the artist's sister [1]; to the artist’s niece, Mrs. Thomas C. Byron, 1956 [2]; to George R. Rinhart, c. 1980 [3]; to Lee Gallery, Winchester, Mass., November 15, 1989 [4]; purchased by Thomas Walther, 1990 [5]; purchased by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] George R. Rinhart, letter to Susan Kismaric, June 2005.
    [2] Ibid.
    [3] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 20; and Rinhart, letter to Kismaric.
    [4] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 20; and Mack Lee, letter to Audrey Sands, September 20, 2013.
    [5] MacGill/Walther 2001(3), p. 20.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Mount
    Contact print
  • PTM
    Detail view of the recto of the artwork made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) software, which exaggerates subtle surface details and renders the features of the artwork plainly visible. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Micro-raking
    Raking-light close-up image, as shot. Area of detail is 6.7 x 6.7 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Raking-light close-up image, processed. Processing included removal of color, equalization of the histogram, and sharpening, all designed to enhance visual comparison. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Paper Material

  • Format Imperial
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso no data
  • Fiber Analysis No fiber data available
  • Material Techniques Platinum print
  • XRF

    This work was determined to be a gum bichromate over platinum print via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.

    The following elements have been positively identified in the work, through XRF readings taken from its recto and verso (or from the mount, where the verso was not accessible):

    • Recto: Al, Si, Ca, Cr, Fe, Zn, Pt, Pb, Hg
    • Verso or mount: not available

    The graphs below show XRF spectra for three areas on the print: two of the recto—from areas of maximum and minimum image density (Dmax and Dmin)—and one of the verso or mount. The background spectrum represents the contribution of the XRF instrument itself. The first graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the lower energy range (0 to 8 keV). The second graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the higher energy range (8 to 40 keV).

    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Al, S, Ca, Cr, Pt
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Fe, Zn, Pt, Hg, Pb

In Context

Related Images

George H. Seeley. Untitled (Tree Trunks). c. 1910. Gelatin silver print, 19 3/8 x 15 9/16" (49.2 x 39.6 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Janet Lehr
George H. Seeley. Seascape. 1909. Gum bichromate and platinum print, 17 1/4 x 21 1/4" (43.9 x 54.0 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, David H. McAlpin Fund and Purchase

Related People

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