“At daylight the miserable man was carried to an oak…” from the series Searching for California Hang Trees

Media - 2012.12.1 - SAAM-2012.12.1_1 - 79790
Copied Ken Gonzales-Day, "At daylight the miserable man was carried to an oak..." from the series Searching for California Hang Trees, 2007, lightjet print, 35 x 45 in. (88.9 x 114.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2012.12.1, © 2007, Ken Gonzales-Day

Artwork Details

Title
“At daylight the miserable man was carried to an oak…” from the series Searching for California Hang Trees
Artist
Date
2007
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
35 x 45 in. (88.9 x 114.3 cm)
Copyright
© 2007, Ken Gonzales-Day
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
lightjet print
Classifications
Highlights
Keywords
  • Landscape — tree
Object Number
2012.12.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2012.12.1

Artwork Description

Through meticulous research, Gonzales-Day documented approximately 350 lynching incidents that occurred in California between 1850 and 1935, most of which involved victims of Mexican descent. To create the series Searching for California Hang Trees, the artist visited many of these sites and captured the likeness of trees that may have borne witness to these events. Gonzales-Day’s landscapes unearth traces of this little-known history.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Description in Spanish

Mediante una investigación meticulosa, Gonzales-Day documentó aproximadamente 350 linchamientos ocurridos en California entre 1850 y 1935, cuyas víctimas eran, en su mayoría, de origen mexicano. Para crear la serie Searching for California Hang Trees, el artista visitó muchos de estos lugares y captó la imagen de árboles que podrían haber sido testigos de estos sucesos. Los paisajes de Gonzalez-Day revelan huellas de esta historia poco conocida.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Related Books

OurAmerica_500.jpg
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture. This beautifully illustrated volume presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. Our America includes works by artists who participated in all the various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual, and performance art; and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture, and scenes of everyday life. 

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 24, 2013–March 2, 2014
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.