Bearded Man with Tree, Venice, CA

Elliott Erwitt, artist

1928–2023

Bearded Man with Tree, Venice, CA, 1976

Portfolio/Series title: Recent Developments

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 29.7 x 20.1 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 11 11/16 x 7 15/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Gift of Mr. Albert B. Cohen

Accession number: 1981.0158

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Trees & Other Ramifications: Branches in Nature & Culture," Mar-2009, Steve Goddard
The palm seen here is a Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonia Robusta), a variety planted along the boardwalk in Venice Beach, California. Erwitt, who is a master of ironic photographs of dogs and people, suggests in Bearded Man with Tree at least a superficial kinship between humans and the life forms with which they surround themselves. The recently (1990) proposed “three-domain system” organizes the evolutionary tree of life into three kingdoms on the basis of genetic similarities and the sophistication of cellular structure. This phylogenetic tree of life is summarized below, with “bearded man” and “tree” sitting in for “animals” and “plants.”