O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection

by Barbara Buhler Lynes, Russell Bowman, Milwaukee Art Museum

The first exploration of the art that Georgia O'Keeffe retained for her personal collection, including works that have never been publicly exhibited. Georgia O'Keeffe was one of America's preeminent artists and one of the first to experiment with abstract form, though she never abandoned her deep response to and observation of nature. An enormously popular artist, she became identified and respected as an independent American spirit through both her art and her life. At the time of her death in 1986, Georgia O'Keeffe owned more than half of the approximately 2,000 works she had produced during the eighty years she was active as an some 400 works in oil, charcoal, pastel, pencil, and watercolor, as well as more than 700 sketches. For various reasons, she had always kept a portion of her art out of the public eye and these works were not published, exhibited, or available for purchase during her lifetime. Among the works that had been exhibited and sold over the years, some were repurchased by O'Keeffe as they became available. This book explores for the first time the significance of O'Keeffe's collection of her own work. Approximately 75 seminal works, dating from about 1910 through the 1960s and reproduced in full color, document the range and quality of the art that O'Keeffe either chose to retain in her estate or consciously distributed to institutions in her lifetime and as bequests. It reveals her thinking in relation to her oeuvre, providing a unique perspective from which to understand O'Keeffe as artist and collector. The book accompanies an exhibition organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, the principal recipients to date of art from the O'Keeffe estate. The exhibition coincides with the opening of the Milwaukee Art Museum's major addition designed by noted Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. 110 color and 20 black-and-white illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography

160 pages, Hardcover

First published May 8, 2001

Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The focus here is narrow: the artist's own collection of her work. The book begins with an introduction by Russell Bowman, and an essay by Barbara Buhler Lynes. Nearly 100 color reproductions are then presented, in three sections (The Early Years, New York, New Mexico). Five appendices, an exhibition catalog, chronology, selected references, and index round out the book.

At the time of her death, O'Keeffe owned more than half of her 2,029 works. Works were sometimes reacquired after being previously sold. The reasons for her holding onto work, and/or keeping it from the public are varied...

+ personal importance: sentimental or representative of key moment in career
+ to maintain or increase market valuation
+ to reunite an individual work with its series
+ planned bequests
+ to curate artistic brand identity: hiding abstract, lesser quality, unfinished pieces

Page 26:
"Whether gained from a specific reading of Transcendentalist principles, her absorption of Eastern concepts, or her own deeply felt response to the world, O'Keeffe seems to have sought a oneness with nature that she symbolized by light."

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the number of works included in this book -- a great way to get a sense of O'Keeffe's works through time, and the essay on O'Keeffe's valuation/possible perception of her own work was very interesting.

[Zoya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Large format, great examples of O'Keeffe's work.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book to accompany reading Laurie Lisle's biography. Chose it because of the pictures. Most impressed by: Turkey Feathers in Indian Pot.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightening short introduction. Lots of well printed glossies of rare pictures from artists personal collection. Stunning to my novice eye in the diversity of interests expressed.