- Artist/Maker:
- Aaron Siskind
- Bio:
- American, 1903-1991
- Title:
- The Wishing Tree
- Portfolio/Series:
- Harlem Document, 1936-40
- Date:
- 1937, printed later
- Medium:
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm) Image: 6 1/2 × 10 in. (16.5 × 25.4 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Purchase: Lillian Gordon Bequest
- Accession Number:
- 2000-58
- Copyright:
- © Aaron Siskind Foundation, Courtesy Bruce Silverstein Gallery
Not On View
Harlem’s legendary Wishing Tree, bringer of good fortune, was once a tall elm that stood outside a theater at 132nd Street and Seventh Avenue. When it was cut down in 1934 Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the celebrated tap dancer, moved the stump to a nearby block and planted a new Tree of Hope beside it to assume wish-granting duties. A piece of the original trunk is preserved in the Apollo Theater on 125th Street, where performers still touch it for luck before going onstage.
Information may change as a result of ongoing research.