Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time

by Georgia O'Keeffe (Artist), Laura Neufeld (Contributor), Samantha Friedman (Editor)

A revelatory new volume on the American modernist's lesser-known works on paper, reuniting many serial works for the first time Recalling a charcoal she made in 1916, Georgia O'Keeffe later wrote, “I have made this drawing several times―never remembering that I had made it before―and not knowing where the idea came from.” These drawings, and the majority of O’Keeffe’s works in charcoal, watercolor, pastel and graphite, belong to series in which she develops and transforms motifs that lie between observation and abstraction. In the formative years of 1915 to 1918, she made as many works on paper as she would in the next 40 years, producing sequences in watercolor of abstract lines, organic landscapes and nudes, along with charcoal drawings she would group according to the designation “specials.” While her practice turned increasingly toward canvas in subsequent decades, important series on paper reappeared―including charcoal flowers of the 1930s, portraits of the 1940s and aerial views of the 1950s.
Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, this richly illustrated volume highlights the drawings of an artist better known as a painter, and reunites individual sheets with their contextual series to illuminate O’Keeffe’s persistently sequential practice.
Born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) first received critical attention when her breakthrough charcoal drawings were exhibited in New York in 1916. Two years later, she moved to the city to work full time on her art. Beginning in 1929, O’Keeffe spent summers in New Mexico, where she would relocate in 1949. The most famous female artist of her age, she thought of herself not as “the best woman painter” but as “one of the best painters.”

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography

180 pages, Hardcover

Published May 16, 2023

About the author

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American artist. She is associated with the American Southwest, where she found artistic inspiration, and particularly New Mexico, where she settled late in life. O'Keeffe has been a major figure in American art since the 1920s. She is chiefly known for paintings in which she synthesized abstraction and representation in paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and landscapes. Her paintings present crisply contoured forms that are replete with subtle tonal transitions of varying colors. She often transformed her subject matter into powerful abstract images.

Reviews

[Cameron Toney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd never seen any of O'Keeffes watercolors, or her drawings before, and I'm so glad this book exists. Her work on paper is absolutely gorgeous, and I am so glad to have read more about that, and seen all the pictures of her work.
Highly recommended for anyone who has only seen her oil paintings!

[MKF · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers are beautiful and her landscapes aren't that bad but the art in this book isn't that great.

[Dorle Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr guter Katalog, in dem unbekanntere Arbeiten auf Papier, mit Kohle, Pastellkreide und Aquarellfarben vorgestellt und mit dem Rest des Werks und dem künstlerischen Kontext verknüpft werden.

[Zachary Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Thought I knew what I was going to try to do but I find I dont -- and I guess I'll only find out by slaving away at it" - Georgia O'Keeffe

This is a small, but engrossing collection of Georgia O'Keeffe's works (mainly watercolors) that focus on her multiple attempts to capture the same subject. "To see takes time - like to have a friend takes time" is not only a banger of a quote from Keeffe, but as the MOMA curators argue, a philosophy that she applied to her art. Seeing her works evolve and change subtly is surprisingly exhilarating and I think the idea is fully fleshed out throughout the course of this catalogue (James Baldwin even gets to contribute with a quote from his introduction to a Beauford Delaney exhibit: "The sunset one saw yesterday, the leaf that burned, or the rain that fell have not really been seen unless one is prepared to see them everyday.")

While the essays from Samantha Friedman and Laura Neufeld were illuminating and added some much needed context to some of these series, their inclusion of Keeffe's own words made this catalogue not only a joy to look at, but to read. Here are some various Keeffe quotes that I enjoyed stumbling upon:

"Cheap paper like this is a great friend lately - A stack of it almost a foot high makes me feel downright reckless."

"This morning I got up just as daylight was coming... the first thing I thought was - GOSH - didn't God have his nerve with him when he painted those swipes across the sky"

"Did you ever have something to say and feel as if the whole side of the wall wouldn’t be big enough to say it on and then sit down on the floor and try to get it on to a sheet of charcoal paper – and when you had put it down look at it and try to put into words what you have been trying to say with just marks – and then – wonder what it all is anyway – I’ve been crawling around on the floor till I have cramps in my feet... Maybe the fault is with what I’m trying to say - I don't seem to be able to find words for it."

"Oh I'm simply soaked with mountains of all kinds - So full that I'm almost nauseated - Drunk with it."

"I couldn't get what I wanted any other way so I've been painting myself - no clothes - It was lots of fun - Stupid of me to never have thought of it before - Today I wanted to paint nakedness. It makes me laugh - I had such a good time."

I knew Beauford Delaney some twenty-six or twenty-eight years ago. He was a very special person—impossible to define. I think of him often as a special experience and always with a feeling that it is fine to know he is living—somewhere—still being his special self—what I do not exactly know, but he is a special kind of thought."

This was a joy to page through and felt like a good investment of my time and (more importantly) my attention. Here were my favorite pieces:

-Special No 9
-Red and Blue No. II
-Blue #1
-Blue #4
-Train Coming in - Canyon, Texas
-No. 20-Special
-Drawing XIII
-Nude Series V
-Canna Lily
-Lightning at Sea
-It Was Yellow and Pink III

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

looked at some of O'Keeffe's oil pastel flowers in an art class recently and decided to look further into her works. I've never seen so many of her phenomenal works and had no idea she worked mostly in charcoal before using color of any kind. I loved how this book used lots of her direct quotes from her letters and gave insight into her thoughts and processes for creating art. as I explore my own art and mediums more and more, I wonder often how other artists differ in their processes and if there's some key part to it all. reading this book made me realize that no, probably not. maybe there's something the same through creating a series or using a certain medium but so much of O'Keeffe's art was influenced heavily by what was happening in her life and her need to explore shapes and color and form. and even though yes that need does occur or propel all her works, the need, the curiosity is different every time. Beautiful book :)

[Edie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I own many books on Georgia O’Keeffe, this one offered a lot of material that the others didn’t. It features reproduction of her works on paper—watercolors, pastels, charcoals, etc and they are breathtaking.

Most of the pictures are abstract, with some naturalistic portraits at the end. Included are little seen self-portraits in the nude.

I was not impressed by the first essay but those that followed were enlightening. I particularly enjoyed learning about o’Keeffe’s use of materials.

The colors are beautiful, as are her lines and sense of movement. These reproductions give a real sense of this unique artist’s magnificent vision

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had always liked Georgia O’Keeffe’s work on a superficial level, but something unlocked inside me when I went to this exhibit at MOMA NY last year, which may have been the genesis of my new relationship to art and specifically to painting. After visiting her house and museum in New Mexico and now reading all the essays in this book and seeing the accompanying pieces through the lens of her life experiences from the beginning to the end of her development as an artist, I find myself resonating so much with her process and deeply inspired to explore and develop my own process, practice, and style as an artist.

[Nick Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Known mainly for oils, it was a delightful surprise to come across this books of O’Keefe’s works on paper. A visual description of her repetitive series in pastels, charcoal, pencil, and watercolor; this is a wonderful representation of the early life and work of an artist finding “herself” in her work. On this journey, we see her move from imitation to inimitable through experimentation. This is definitely worth a look. And I have no doubt I’ll be returning to it again and again.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's taken me years to see her work in a way that I can now appreciate it.

[Inés ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

She’s one of my all time favorite artists and I just learning about her and seeing her work