Mount Rushmore National Monument, Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

About this artwork

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Joel Sternfeld

Title

Mount Rushmore National Monument, Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota, from the series "On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam"

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1994

Medium

Chromogenic print

Edition

3 of 7

Inscriptions

Unmarked recto; inscribed verso, on mount, along bottom edge, in black ink: JS.193.2 3/7 Mount Rushmore National Monument, Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota, August 1994 / P-September 1996 Joel Sternfeld In 1868 the Federal government deeded millions of acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Great Sioux Nation. Nine years later, when gold was discovered in the area, Congress broke the treaty and took the land back. In the 1920s the state of South Dakota, eager to attract tourists, commissioned a sculptor to carve a colossal monument into Mount Rushmore. The Sioux still considered the Black Hills their own sacred land. In 1980, the Supreme Court awarded the Sioux $17 million plus interest accrued since 1877 as compensation. The award is now valued at nearly $300 million, but the Sioux continue to refuse the money and to seek title to their land. From the series, On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam

Dimensions

Image/paper: 47.3 × 59.7 cm (18 5/8 × 23 9/16 in.); Mount: 63.2 × 74.6 cm (24 15/16 × 29 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Jeanne and Richard S. Press

Reference Number

1998.842

Extended information about this artwork

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