Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Magazine Summer 2016 by Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

The Georgia Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Keeffe Museum Magazine

s u m m e r

2 O 1 6

Santa Fe

SWEETHEARTS

Top 10 Cities for Museums & Galleries - TRAVEL + LEISURE GO TO SANTAFE.ORG TO MASTER THE ART OF VACATION TRAVEL.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Board of Trustees 2O15–16 Elaine B. Agather Dallas, TX Jane Bagwell Santa Fe, NM Ronald D. Balser Atlanta, GA; Santa Fe, NM Deborah A. Beck River Hills, WI; Santa Fe, NM Nancy D. Carney Houston, TX; Santa Fe, NM Ann Murphy Daily Santa Fe, NM Roxanne Decyk, President Chicago, IL; Santa Fe, NM Julie Spicer England Dallas, TX Felicitas Funke Ketchum, ID; Santa Fe, NM Susan J. Hirsch Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM Donald D. Humphreys Dallas, TX Jack L. Kinzie Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM Anne W. Marion, Chair Fort Worth, TX; Santa Fe, NM John L. Marion Fort Worth, TX; Santa Fe, NM Deborah A. Peacock, Treasurer Albuquerque, NM Ramona Sakiestewa, Secretary Santa Fe, NM Christine Schuepbach Dallas, TX Barton E. Showalter Dallas, TX Marilynn J. Thoma Chicago, IL; Santa Fe, NM Joanna Lerner Townsend Dallas, TX; Santa Fe, NM David L. Warnock Baltimore, MD Robert A. Kret, ex officio Santa Fe, NM Laura Bush, Honorary Dallas, TX Saul Cohen, Honorary Santa Fe, NM Lee E. Dirks, Honorary Lahaina, HI; Santa Fe, NM Emily Fisher Landau, Honorary New York, NY; Palm Beach, FL Joann K. Phillips, Honorary Santa Fe, NM Juan Hamilton Special Consultant to the Board Honolulu, HI; Abiquiú, NM; Santa Fe, NM Note: Board members can be reached through the Office of the Director at 505.946.1055. Updated June 1, 2016

contents summer 2O16

2 Openings 3 From the Director 4 Currently on View: O’Keeffe’s Texas Years a Time of Self-Discovery 6 Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas by Amy Von Lintel 8 Solving the Puzzle of O’Keeffe by Tim Hone 9 New Acquisition: The Barns, Lake George 10 Home & Studio: See the Light 11 2016 O’Keeffe Forum Discusses Authenticity vs. Idealism 12 Family Programs 13 Creative Activity: Abstract Watercolors 14 Happening at the O’Keeffe 16 Where in the World Is the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum?

O’Keeffe Magazine is published for Members of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Send correspondence to: Mara Christian Harris, Communications Manager 217 Johnson Street Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 E-mail: mharris@okeeffemuseum.org Summer 2016 Published by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. © 2016. No reproduction of images or content permitted.

On the cov er : Georgia O’Keeffe, Evening Star No. VI, 1917. Watercolor on paper, 8 7/8 x 12 in. Gift of The Burnett Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

2 3

openings On Saturday, April 30, Members and guests gathered at the Eldorado Hotel to hear Amy Von Lintel, Associate Professor of Art History at West Texas A&M University, discuss the installation Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas with Museum curators Cody Hartley and Carolyn Kastner. This presentation of watercolors O’Keeffe produced in Canyon, Texas, between 1916 and 1918 demonstrates the artist’s early commitment to abstraction. Following the spirited conversation, guests walked to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s galleries to view the installation and enjoy a private Members reception.

1. Dale Kronkright 2. Santiago Rodriguez (left) and Cody Hartley (right) in conversation with Johnnie de Schweinitz 3. Carolyn Kastner, Cody Hartley, and Amy Von Lintel in conversation 4. Eddy and Beckie Turner 5. Elizabeth Ferrell and Edwin Harvey 6. Timothy Ingalls, Alex Gregory, Carolyn Kastner 7. Wayne and Melissa Jenski (center)

Museum Store, or online at http://store.okeeffemuseum.org/ Please come by and see this and other O’Keeffe artworks that are currently on view. I want to take a moment to recognize and thank Cody Hartley, director of curatorial affairs, and Carolyn Kastner, curator, for their efforts in successfully collaborating with the staff of the Tate Modern, London, in presenting a Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective exhibition. The exhibition will be on view in London from July 6 through October 30 and will include more than 100 of O’Keeffe’s works. It will then travel to Vienna, and finally to Toronto. This international effort will undoubtedly raise awareness of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Santa Fe, and attract more visitors to our Museum from all over the globe. We’ve also kicked off the ever-popular summertime First Fridays, from 5 to 7 PM on the first Friday of each month, through September. We will offer music in the courtyard and sketching in the galleries—a wonderful way to enjoy the summer months with art and friends at the Museum. Lastly, I want to thank you for your continued support and engagement as we continue to evolve as an institution dedicated to preserving, presenting, and advancing the artistic legacy of Georgia O’Keeffe and modernism. We hope to see you this summer. Kind regards,

FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear Members and Friends, On April 29, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum opened the summer season in Santa Fe with Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas. This installation features a series of O’Keeffe’s watercolors, painted from 1916 to 1918, of the wide-open spaces around Amarillo, Texas. These early watercolors reveal a defining moment in the artist’s commitment to abstraction, as well as to her career as a professional artist. The 28 works presented include loans from the Amarillo Museum of Art, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, and the Yale University Art Gallery. The installation is on view through October 30, 2016. In the catalog that accompanies the installation, most of the 46 works created by O’Keeffe during this period are reproduced at actual size. The publication is available at the

Robert A. Kret Director, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

ok eeffemu seu m.org

c u r r e n t i n s t alla t i o n

O’Keeffe’s Texas Years a Time of Self-Discovery The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s installation Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas, which includes 28 watercolors created by O’Keeffe in Texas between 1916 and 1918, is a unique opportunity to see the artist’s career at its earliest professional moment. The Museum is fortunate to hold most of the paintings O’Keeffe created while living in Canyon, Texas, including landscapes, abstractions, and studies of her own body. Within the collection are more than a dozen works from the artist’s estate so precious to her that she never sold them. Also from the Museum’s collections are supporting materials, including photographs, sketches, and memorabilia, that tell the story of these two years in the young artist’s life. In 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation offered to Anne and John Marion, founders of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the opportunity to select watercolors from the artist’s estate for the

new museum. They viewed the paintings in a Santa Fe bank vault, where the art had been stored for more than a decade. The artist had carefully preserved this precious collection, seldom shown during her life, for 70 years. After extensive analytical testing in 2008, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Conservator Dale Kronkright and scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute found that most of the watercolors had suffered very little light damage, such as fading or discoloration; in fact, the analysis suggested that many were as brilliant as the day O’Keeffe painted them. In the years since that first gift, The Burnett Foundation and individual donors have contributed more watercolors to the Museum, elevating the collection to its present status as the largest repository of the artist’s Texas artwork. O’Keeffe painted the works while she was teaching art at West Texas Normal State College (now West Texas A&M University); watercolor was her chosen medium because she could easily pursue it in her limited spare time. When she accepted the position, in 1916, O’Keeffe’s goal was to establish a career in teaching, and she shared with her students the then-radical

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

artistic practice of abstraction, based on techniques learned from Arthur Wesley Dow in her studies at the University of Virginia and Columbia University Teacher’s College. O’Keeffe filled letters to her friend and fellow student Anita Pollitzer with her excitement about the vast sky and plains of her new home in Texas. “I am loving the plains more than ever it seems—and SKY—Anita you have never seen the SKY—it is wonderful—.” O’Keeffe was also exuberant about her abstract experiments, and sought any news from New York about this new art being shown in Alfred Stieglitz’s gallery 291. Not yet 30 years old, O’Keeffe experienced a time of professional and personal growth and exploration in Texas. She described it as a time when she first knew that she “wasn’t going to spend [her] life doing what had already been done.” “I realized,” she said, “that I had things in my head not like what I had been taught—not like what I had seen—shapes and ideas so familiar to me that it hadn’t occurred to me to put them down. I decided to . . . start to say the things that were my own.” In 1916, O’Keeffe began corresponding with Stieglitz; the avant-garde gallerist and photographer was then the most important American Modernist, and more than 20 years her senior. Seeking his comments on her work, O’Keeffe sent him abstract charcoal drawings. “I make them—just to express myself—things I feel and want to say—haven’t words for—you probably know without me saying it—that I ask because I wonder if I got over to anyone what I want to say.” Stieglitz responded: “I might give you what I received from them if you and I were to meet and talk about life. Possibly then through such a conversation I might make you feel what your drawings gave me.” Their early exchange about art did indeed lead to a lengthy and lasting conversation about art and life. Their letters to each other form a 30-year record of their shared passions for modernism and for each other. Even now, decades after O’Keeffe’s death, we are continually exploring new facets of her life through the art and archives held by the Museum. Among our holdings are the artist’s two homes and all of their contents—a vast array of possessions, grand and small, that form the basis for the stories we can tell about how she lived and worked. Recently, while cataloging books from O’Keeffe’s library, Research Center Associate Tori Duggan made new discoveries about O’Keeffe’s time in Texas when she looked closely at a copy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: A Tragedy, inscribed by Alfred Stieglitz in 1916. I have lived – When I was nine I discovered Faust – It gave me quiet then – I knew not why – But it gave me quiet – And I have lived since then – much & hard – & in consequence suffered so that I could not suffer any more – Faust quieted me in such despairing moments – always – And as I grew it seemed to also grow – It is a Friend – Like the Lake – To One who, without knowing, has given me much at a time when I needed Faust & Lake – 1916 Stieglitz’s inscription in Faust, one of his favorite books, hints at

Unidentified photographer, Georgia O’Keeffe and Friends in Texas, c. 1916–1918. Black and white photograph. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (2006-06-0732). © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Georgia O’Keeffe, Untitled Sketch, c. 1916. Graphite on paper. Found in collections. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

the future of the intellectual and personal life that he shared with O’Keeffe, which began in 1916 and continued until Stieglitz’s death, in 1946. O’Keeffe’s immediate response reveals her reciprocal feelings for Stieglitz. On October 26, 1916, she wrote to thank him for the book: Faust was on my table when I came from dinner—what you write in the front—I like—thank you—Some time I’m going to tell you something—Faust has made me want to tell it to you— I wonder if [you] know how much finer life has seemed to me through knowing you—a little—maybe more than a little— Tori also discovered several mementos that O’Keeffe had tucked inside the pages that revealed her fondness for Stieglitz and the book. They include a small sketch that is among O’Keeffe’s earliest abstract drawings, and a handwritten note from Stieglitz, undated but clearly written after they had begun living together in New York: “1:45 Gone to get a cup of coffee Then back next door A.” For more elusive reasons, between two pages was pressed a four-leaf clover.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

guest article

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas by Amy Von Lintel “To the Little Girl of the Texas Plains”—on June 26, 1917, Alfred Stieglitz scrawled this dedication on a copy of the last issue of his periodical Camera Work and shipped it to Georgia O’Keeffe. How can we reconcile this identity of youthful Texas plainswoman with the Georgia O’Keeffe we now know? With the successful New York artist and wife of the famous gallerist and photographer Stieglitz? Or with the mature matron of New Mexico? Stieglitz shipped the copy of Camera Work to an address in Canyon, Texas, where O’Keeffe was living at the time— so she was then, in a very literal sense, “of the plains.” But Stieglitz’s full dedication also identifies O’Keeffe with New York City, with his gallery 291, and with himself: “Georgia O’Keeffe’s spirit—and—the spirit of ‘291’ are identical. To the Little Girl of the Texas Plains—A greeting from the Old Man of ‘291.’” When Stieglitz wrote these words, his gallery had just closed its doors. It had also just completed its final exhibition: O’Keeffe’s first solo show. Stieglitz had selected O’Keeffe’s work as the most fitting terminus for his now-famous gallery, which had shut down in the economic climate following America’s entry into WWI. In Stieglitz’s words, we see how, in 1917, O’Keeffe was simultaneously “of” New York and Texas. On one hand, she had come to embody the modernist spirit of 291. On the other, she was still only a “little girl” and he her “old man”—fitting descriptions, given the difference in their ages: she was 29, he 53. Yet O’Keeffe’s identity as a little girl was not—or at least not only—imposed on her by Stieglitz, the doting father figure, artistic mentor, and much older lover. She described herself in those terms in many letters to him and to others. She wrote, for example, in one letter to Stieglitz, that she felt very small in comparison to the sublime spaces of the Texas Panhandle: its deep, broad canyons that “laughed at [her]” for trying to climb them, its huge and ever-changing sky with its stunning effects. She also described herself as feeling “little” when she faced the challenge of capturing this dramatic nature in her art. In seeing O’Keeffe as part of the Texas Plains, Stieglitz seemed to recognize that her home in West Texas had been a catalyst for her development as an independent woman, an inspiring teacher, and an innovative abstract artist. To be sure, in Texas O’Keeffe balanced these three roles as she never would again. In letters, she described her active social life as a young woman—dancing, riding in cars, hiking, and enjoying time with her many friends and lovers. She also wrote of her fierce dedication to her faculty position at West

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

Anonymous, Georgia O’Keeffe in Texas, c. 1916–1918. Gelatin silver print. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation 2006.06.074.

Texas State Normal College (WTSN), in Canyon; she apparently adored administrative meetings, and took great pride in her instructional methods and her public presentations. She also wrote of her serious commitment to her art career, detailing for Stieglitz her triumphs and frustrations. She described the long hours she spent after teaching, walking or sitting in the landscape, observing forms that inspired her designs; or when she worked through sheet after sheet of drawing or watercolor paper, trying to get her ideas and images just right. She sent to Stieglitz the very best pieces she produced in Canyon, and it was this work that formed the core of her first solo show. In fact, the first piece she ever sold was a charcoal drawing of a Canyon train. Like Stieglitz, her buyer, the New Yorker John Dewald, appreciated the fresh styles and bold abstractions coming out of this woman “of” Texas. O’Keeffe spent only 37 months in West Texas—teaching art in the public schools of Amarillo from August 1912

to May 1914 (with summers spent teaching art at the University of Virginia); and, between September 1916 and February 1918, as a faculty member and head of the art department at WTSN. She moved to South Texas— specifically, the San Antonio area—between February and May 1918. Yet her brief time in West Texas proved pivotal to her personal and artistic maturity. It was there that she emerged as the independent, sexually progressive, and economically self-sufficient woman, and as the successful gallery artist and premier abstractionist, whom we know her to have become. When O’Keeffe left Texas behind for New York City in late spring 1918, she gave up a number of important aspects of her life: her formal teaching career, her freedom as a single woman, and her commitment to watercolor as her principal artistic medium. By the mid-1920s she had committed herself to Stieglitz as his wife (on December 11, 1924) and as one of the primary artists he represented. Most likely at his suggestion, she refocused her art production onto oil paintings, which could fetch better prices. Nevertheless, she returned to her Texas Plains experiences in several later paintings—for example, Series I – From the Plains (1919) and From the Plains (1952/1954)—that demonstrated how that landscape had deeply affected her. She also kept many of her Canyon drawings and watercolors in her personal collection late into her life, treasuring them as some of her strongest work. My own experience in the Texas Panhandle has had some notable parallels with that of O’Keeffe. Like her, I moved to the isolated region for a teaching position—a job that led me to the very art program at WTSN (now known as West Texas A&M University) at which O’Keeffe had taught a century before. Like O’Keeffe, I discovered a place that could frustrate at times, but could also inspire great creativity, independence, and self-discovery. I had never considered researching O’Keeffe until I lived in West Texas— until I saw what she saw, and felt what she felt about this unique place. Just as the region’s identity imprinted itself so strongly on O’Keeffe, the artist’s presence, though brief, left lasting marks on West Texas. Georgia O’Keeffe looms large there—as large as the sky or Palo Duro Canyon. Living and working in the region’s vast spaces, I felt the professional and personal urge to explore O’Keeffe’s legacy. But in that exploration I sought to return to the source—to O’Keeffe herself. Since the correspondence of Stieglitz and O’Keeffe was opened to the public, in 2006, O’Keeffe’s own voice can for the first time become the strongest in shaping our understanding of her early years in Texas. I now invite you to read O’Keeffe’s words penned from Canyon between 1916 and 1918, to look anew at her nearly 100 works created there, and to see Georgia O’Keeffe’s far, wide Texas through her eyes.

Amy Von Lintel recently received tenure and promotion to associate professor of Art History at West Texas A&M University. She also is Director of the Gender Studies Program and the Doris Alexander Endowed Professor of Art. Her research focuses on the popularization of art history in the modern era through affordable illustrated books and public exhibitions; recently, she has expanded that research into the modern art of the Texas Panhandle. She wrote an essay for the catalog accompanying the Museum’s installation Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas.

Learn more about o’keeffe’s life and work in texas A catalog titled Georgia O’Keeffe: Watercolors 1916–1918 represents the extraordinary body of work exhibited in Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas, and offers full-size reproductions of 41 watercolors, including some that could not travel to Santa Fe. Amy Von Lintel, an associate professor of Art History at West Texas A&M, has written an essay to accompany the images. To bring a fresh perspective to the years the artist lived and worked in Texas, Von Lintel has read all of the O’Keeffe/Stieglitz correspondence, as well as the university records from 1916 to 1918. Her catalog essay analyzes the unique situation— at the intersection of her disciplined art practice and her allegiance to the techniques of her mentor, Arthur Wesley Dow—that fostered O’Keeffe’s abstractions. Radius Books of Santa Fe published the catalog. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 6 PM Join Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Curator Carolyn Kastner and Radius Books Publisher/Creative Director David Chickey for a discussion about their new co-publication. Museum Education Annex, 123 Grant Avenue. $15; Members, $5.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

research center

Solving the Puzzle of O’Keeffe by Tim Hone Georgia O’Keeffe once said, “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way . . . things I had no words for.” O’Keeffe’s statement presents a puzzle that an O’Keeffe scholar could spend a lifetime working on: giving words to things for which the artist herself had no words. And a beautiful lifetime it would be! Last year, I had the pleasure of interning at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center, where a brilliant team of people is dedicated to this and other mysteries at the heart of O’Keeffe scholarship. The fact that, in her art, O’Keeffe often did not depict things so much as express complex ideas and emotions led to interesting collaborations among the curatorial, educational, and research staffs. For instance, an examination of a watercolor portrait of one of O’Keeffe’s companions, Kindred M. Watkins, was enriched by digging up O’Keeffe’s correspondence about Watkins around the time the painting was made. Indeed, it’s possible that the artist’s expressed exasperation with her subject helped to inform a sense of darkness in the work. Then again, I could be imposing my own perception that the portrait is dark in the first place, based on my feelings about the colors O’Keeffe chose. Another viewer might interpret the same colors as expressing a deep respect for her friend and subject—and herein lies the riddle. Outside-the-box collaborative thinking is necessary to get a complete picture of Georgia O’Keeffe’s influence on American art, and this is the kind of thinking encouraged at the Research Center. During my time there, my task was to review O’Keeffe’s letters, photographs, and other primary source materials from 1916 to 1918, searching for the young artist’s references to music, books, and creative outlets. I was asked to look for anything that might have inspired her art. In order to contextualize O’Keeffe’s artistic explorations in those years, we wanted to learn more about her interests. Noting that she was reading Goethe, we asked why. Noting that she was aware of Marcel Duchamp, we asked ourselves what she thought of his work. Anyone who, like us, has spent a day surrounded by O’Keeffe paintings knows what it feels like to be inspired in the most inexpressible and mysterious ways, and knowing what had influenced her work had become important to us. You never know how you’ll be inspired by a work of art— and you may never be able to find the words! Tim Hone received a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College in 2016. He won first prize for nonfiction writing in the 2013 Ithaca College Writing Contest, and has conducted demographic research in Cuba focusing on diabetes and economic development. Tim believes that an education rooted in the humanities can shake many branches.

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

Georgia O’Keeffe, Portrait – W – No. III, 1917. Watercolor on paper, 12 x 8 7/8 in. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (1997.04.016). © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust: a Tragedy. Trans. Bayard Taylor, 1912-1913. Georgia O’Keeffe Personal Library. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (05:04-03)

new Acquisition

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Acquires Rarely Seen The Barns, Lake George The Barns, Lake George, a 1926 oil painting by Georgia O’Keeffe, has been seen by the public only once in the past 50 years. With its acquisition by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the painting will finally receive the attention it deserves. Exhibited in multiple important exhibitions during O’Keeffe’s lifetime, including her landmark retrospective at MoMA, The Barns, Lake George has been held in private collections since 1946. This painting of the rustic barns found on the Stieglitz family property in Lake George, New York, will be shown in the Museum’s “My New Yorks” gallery, which focuses on the significance New York City and Lake George held in O’Keeffe’s artistic and personal development. It will take its place alongside images of the city and the rural retreat made by both O’Keeffe and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Though O’Keeffe painted this scene only a handful of times, her images of the barns have become icons of the artist’s time at Lake George. Raised on a farm, she felt a particular connection to these structures. “The barn is a very healthy part of me—there should be

more of it—it is something that I know too—it is my childhood.” “This acquisition will strengthen and refine our collection, furthering our goal to represent the full breadth of Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic accomplishments,” said Cody Hartley, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s Director of Curatorial Affairs. “The Museum is actively building its collection of artworks by Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as photography of and related to the artist.” Of the subjects O’Keeffe painted at Lake George in the 1920s, the various barns on the Stieglitz property most directly reflect her interests, and those of other American Modernists, to identify distinctively national subjects. Barns conveyed a sense of a rural, regional identity, and connected modernism to an idealized agrarian past. They also were a counterpoint to industrialism and the growth of metropolitan centers. O’Keeffe’s barns demonstrate her familiarity with the work of such peers as Charles Sheeler and Charles Demuth, her awareness of the growing interest in regionalism, and her direct participation in a broader conversation about national art. The Barns, Lake George is an outstanding example from a series of fewer than 10 paintings of these barns, made between 1921 and 1934. O’Keeffe also painted barns she found in Canada and Wisconsin. The Barns, Lake George was purchased with funds from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s acquisition endowment. It will be placed on display in the coming months.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

h o m e & s t u di o

See the Light

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 9 AM–6 PM or FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 9 AM–6 PM

Tour landscapes that inspired O’Keeffe

Walks in the American West Gardens that Paint a Picture of the Southwest

Explore the landscape that inspired Georgia O’Keeffe. From tours of her Home and Studio in Abiquiú to multiday workshops and many other options, delve into the personal (O’Keeffe’s gardens) and the monumental (the Ghost Ranch landscape) through several entry points. When visiting the Home and Studio, take special note of O’Keeffe’s gardens—a deeply personal reflection of her attachment to the land.

As part of the Walks in the American West series, explore and learn about gardens in Santa Fe and Abiquiú. The day begins with tours of the Santa Fe Botanical Garden and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Recharge over lunch in the gardens of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center. During the drive up to Abiquiú, learn about the unique methods used by the region’s gardeners and farmers to adapt to northern New Mexico’s high altitude and aridity. Your first stop in Abiquiú is a tour of the Purple Adobe Lavender Farm, along the Río Chama, followed by a visit to Georgia O’Keeffe’s Home and Studio, including time spent in her gardens. Transportation and lunch included. Led by Francesca Davies, landscape architect. Meet at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, 715 Camino Lejo (on Museum Hill). $200; Members, $175. Reservations: 505.946.1039 or okeeffemuseum.org.

FRIDAY–TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9–13

Walks in the American West Inspired by Nature: A Journey into Creativity

“Color is one of the great things in the world that makes life worth living to me” Now in its third year, the restoration of O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú gardens introduces local student interns to the centuries-old agricultural heritage of the Chama River Valley. Using the plans O’Keeffe made when restoring the house with her friend Maria Chabot, interns and staff from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden plant vegetables and flowers much as the artist did when she lived there. In addition, students plant historical foods of the area, such as native beets from area Pueblos, chiles and jalapeños, and the traditional “three sisters”: corn, beans, and squash. The garden is watered by a centuries-old system of acequias, which flood the field each Monday during the growing season. Harvest time in September is a special celebration among the interns and their families, and unused produce is donated to the area food bank. For information about tours of O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú home and gardens, call 505.946.1098 or visit https://connect.okeeffemuseum.org/abiquiu-tours

Have you unleashed the natural creativity inside you, in order to lead a more passionate and purposeful life? Lead Feather, a tour company specializing in wilderness journeys, invites you to inspire your fullest creative self on a five-day adventure immersed in the nature and artistry of northern New Mexico. You’ll see firsthand how such iconic creators as Georgia O’Keeffe and Ra Paulette have used nature to expand their perspectives and choices. Through guided activities, you’ll spend time exploring your own creative strengths, and how they enhance your life and work. Ojo Retreat Center, 50 Los Baños Drive, Ojo Caliente. $1595. Details and reservations: Cheryl@leadfeather.org.

SATURDAY–SUNDAY, AUGUST 20–21 or SATURDAY–SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24–25

Special Breakfast with O’Keeffe at the Ranch The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s popular program Breakfast with O’Keeffe will be presented at Ghost Ranch, with O’Keeffe’s beloved landscape as the backdrop. Arrive Saturday, walk the property on your own, then join us for O’Keeffe trivia after dinner. Night owls can stay up for a screening of the Lifetime film Georgia O’Keeffe, starring Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. Start the following morning with breakfast in the cafeteria and a lecture on O’Keeffe. After the talk, you’ll venture into the landscape on a guided tour to see some of O’Keeffe’s painting sites. This overnight package includes lodging for Saturday evening, dinner on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday. Optional: lunch on Sunday, and an afternoon walking tour of O’Keeffe painting sites. Meet at Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center in Abiquiú. Details and reservations at ghostranch.org or call 505.685.1000.

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

2016 O’Keeffe Forum Discusses Authenticity vs. Idealism To mark its 15th year, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Research Center will bring together leading thinkers from the world of single-focus institutions to discuss their facilities’ roles in seeking truth while meeting the many expectations of visitors. More than an Icon: Balancing Authenticity, Idealism, and Expectations at Single-Focus Institutions is set for September 14–16, 2016, in Santa Fe. The forum will kick off with a keynote address on Wednesday evening, September 14, given by noted museum consultant and writer Elaine Gurian. The 2015 Museum Studies Fellowin-Residence at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Gurian is an esteemed consultant, writer, and lecturer in museum-studies programs around the world. She has served as a deputy director of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, both located in Washington, D.C. Her area

AUTHENTIC OR IDEALIZED? The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum recently showcased Georgia O’Keeffe’s studio table in the galleries in Santa Fe, complete with her arts materials and other of her possessions. The installation allowed far more visitors to see the tangible evidence of the artist’s process than could visit the Home and Studio in Abiquiú, but was it an authentic experience? The furniture and materials were all owned and used by O’Keeffe, but did the act of selecting

of expertise is helping museums that are “beginning, building, or reinventing themselves,” she says. In her keynote address, Gurian will speak about how a single individual can come to exemplify or become a stand-in for a movement. Eric Shiner, from the Andy Warhol Museum, an institution with a focus on a single individual, will discuss the artist as icon. Francine Snyder, from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, will speak about the foundation’s Fair Use Policy and Grant for Image Use Licensing initiative, and scholar Alicia Guzman will respond with comments about its impact on scholarship. Dale Kronkright, from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, will consider conservation issues surrounding single-artist collections. See the forum’s website (below) for information on all of the speakers. Questions to be discussed include: What does it mean for an institution to represent an individual? How do you create an authentic experience? What is the role of research in the work that institutions do, and how is that shared with the public? How are difficult themes or topics managed and explored with the public? How do human experiences and “pilgrimage behaviors” affect interpretation? For more information and to register, please visit our website at http://www.gokm.org/forum/

among her possessions for the installation in some way falsify the representation of her work environment? How true was the installation to the environment created by O’Keeffe in her own studio? These are among the questions curators wrestle with in establishing an installation or exhibition, and will be major topics of discussion at this year’s Research Center forum. Tony Vaccaro, O’Keeffe Opening Curtains in Her Studio, 1960. Black and white photograph (2007.03.003). © Tony Vaccaro. Installation of O’Keeffe’s studio furniture and art materials in the Santa Fe galleries.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

f a m ily p r o g r a m s

family programs

SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 9:30–11:30 AM

Family Programs are interactive activities designed for children and their favorite grownups. Come explore the world of art with your children.

Join us for a morning of detail-oriented exploration as we use Georgia O’Keeffe’s flower paintings as inspiration for creating our own origami flowers. Tour the galleries, then participate in this hands-on art activity.

FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 5–7 PM

Family Program: Origami Flowers

Meet at the Museum, 217 Johnson Street. Free for children 4–12 and their grownups.

First Friday: Art Activities Enjoy music in the courtyard and art activities in the galleries.

TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 10 AM–12:30 PM

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street. Free to New Mexico residents on First Fridays; always free for children 17 and under.

Family Program: Summer Fun Fest Join us in the courtyard and galleries for fun-filled art projects and activities! Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street. Free for children 4–12 and their grownups.

FRIDAY, JULY 1, 5–7 PM

First Friday: Art Activities Enjoy music in the courtyard and art activities in the galleries. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street. Free to New Mexico residents on First Fridays; always free for kids 17 and under.

SATURDAY, JULY 16, 8 AM–1 PM

Family Program at Artists Market Join us at the Santa Fe Artists Market, in the Railyard, to make art inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe. Santa Fe Railyard, Paseo de Peralta and Guadalupe Street. Free for children 4–12 and their grownups.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 5–7 PM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 9:30–11:30 AM

Family Program: Trees and Leaves Let’s explore different ways of creating trees and leaves with art materials. Simple printmaking and drawing techniques will be used, as well as an assortment of collage supplies. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street. Free for children 4–12 and their grownups. No reservations required.

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

Creative Activity

Abstract Watercolors The watercolors that Georgia O’Keeffe created while living and teaching in Texas show her dedication to abstraction. As you can see from these paintings, abstraction explores the relationships between forms and colors, while more traditional art represents the world in recognizable images. If you didn’t know the titles of these paintings, what would you have guessed they are about?

Now let’s look at a couple of O’Keeffe’s later works, created using oil paints. In watercolors, create your own abstract interpretations of these oil paintings. Think of shapes and colors that represent how each O’Keeffe painting feels to you. Complete this activity on a separate sheet of paper and have fun! Georgia O’Keeffe, Sunrise and Little Clouds No. II, 1916. Watercolor on paper, 8 7/8 x 12 in. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Burnett Foundation (1997.18.001). © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Georgia O’Keeffe, Train at Night in the Desert, 1916. Watercolor on paper, 11 7/8 x 8 7/8 in. Amarillo Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Amarillo Area Foundation, the Amarillo Art Alliance, The Mary Ann Weymouth Campbell Foundation, Santa Fe Industries Foundation, and Mary Fain (AM.1982.1.4). © Amarillo Museum of Art. Georgia O’Keeffe, Lavender Hill with Green, 1952. Oil on canvas, 12 x 27 1/8 in. Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Georgia O’Keeffe, Bella Donna, 1939. Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 30 1/8. Extended loan, private collection. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

ok eeffemu seu m.org

h a p p e n i n g

a t

t h e

O ’ K eeffe

O’KEEFFE PAINT MOMENT— NOW IN WATERCOLOR In connection with Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas, Santa Fe Art Classes will offer watercolor experiences. Join us in a step-by-step, guided watercolor class inspired by the watercolors O’Keeffe created during her early years in Texas. This class is great for beginners and for those looking to refresh their painting skills. Bring family or friends, transform a humdrum afternoon into an unforgettably creative adventure, and become a part of Santa Fe’s rich cultural heritage by creating and taking home a mini-masterpiece to love. Saturday Friday Tuesday Friday Saturday Thursday

July 23 August 19 August 23 September 16 September 17 September 22

2 PM 10 AM 10 AM 10 AM 10 AM and 2 PM 10 AM

Santa Fe Art Classes, 621 Old Santa Fe Trail, Suite 16. Drive behind front building; look for red French doors. $55 plus tax per person; includes ticket to visit Museum. Register at santafeartclasses.com.

BOYS AND GIRLS, ART AND GROWTH The award-winning Art and Leadership Program for Girls and Program for Boys at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum engages groups of children ages 11–13 in art-making as it emphasizes personal growth. The groups are separated by gender, with the girls’ program focusing on identity, creativity, and self-esteem, and the boys’ program developing resiliency and nonviolent behavior. Join these talented kids and their families for the opening of an exhibition of work created during their summer. Sunday, August 7, 3–5 PM Museum Education Annex,123 Grant Avenue.

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

Carl Van Vechten, Portrait of Mabel Dodge Luhan, 1934

Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company in Taos Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company: American Moderns and the West, an exploration of the life of Mabel Dodge Luhan now showing at the Harwood Museum of Art, in Taos, features works by Southwestern luminaries including Georgia O’Keeffe in dialogue with the Pueblo and Hispano art that inspired and strongly influenced their modernist styles. Mabel Dodge Luhan (1879–1962) was a major contributor to the social and cultural avant-garde of Taos. After arriving in Taos, in 1918, Luhan nurtured its culture by inviting important figures in the areas of art, politics, and spirituality, among others, to stay at her 12-acre compound. Mabel Dodge Luhan & Company will be exhibited at the Harwood Museum until September 11, 2016 (www.harwoodmuseum.org). Admission to the Harwood is free on Saturdays to Members of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum when you show your membership card.

ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE Browse the magazine on your computer! We’ve created this magazine in a PDF format that allows you to turn the pages and link directly to content. Go to http://www.gokm.org/magazine and let us know what you think at contact@gokm.org.

TREEMAIL The tree has such presence it’s been given a name: Double Cottonwood. And now it has its own e-mail address. The stately, dramatic cottonwood growing up through the sidewalk in front of the Research Center is often photographed and much admired, by visitors and residents alike. Named for its original two trunks, which over the years have merged into one, the tree has such a powerful attraction that passersby leave notes and flowers in its nooks and crannies. Museum staff are often asked to take pictures of visitors in front of Double Cottonwood. Because of its popularity (or poplar-ity, it being a member of the same genus as poplars and aspens), Museum staff decided that Double Cottonwood’s fan club should be able to more easily communicate with it. Equally inspired by the grandeur of cottonwoods, throughout the 1950s Georgia O’Keeffe painted the trees that line the Río Chama near her home in Abiquiú. Many of these artworks are titled for the season in which they were painted. O’Keeffe especially liked early spring, when the cottonwoods release the cotton-like fruit buds that give them their name, and take on a wispy, cloud-like appearance. Many of the cottonwoods in Santa Fe’s historic downtown district are more than 100 years old. The first cottonwoods in the Santa Fe Plaza were planted as early as 1839, and are beloved for their changing seasonal foliage and their abundant summer shade. Our leafy friend can be reached at doublecottonwood@gokm.org. Messages and photographs can be shared on social media at #doublecottonwood.

#taketimetolook Georgia O’Keeffe was inspired by the landscapes around her. Share a snap of a landscape that inspires you by sending it via Instagram to @okeeffemuseum.

Where in the World Is the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum? In May, beautiful flowers began blooming underground, as billboards appeared throughout the London Underground for the Tate Modern’s major exhibition of artworks by Georgia O’Keeffe. The exhibition, titled simply Georgia O’Keeffe, opens July 6 and continues through October 30—but, projecting a total attendance of over 350,000, the Tate began selling advance tickets two months prior to the opening. Georgia O’Keeffe promises to be the highlight of London’s summer arts season. Moreover, with more than 100 works of art, it will be largest, most comprehensive international exhibition of O’Keeffe’s work ever displayed. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is the largest lender to the exhibition, and has worked closely with the Tate, and with private and institutional collectors, to make Georgia O’Keeffe a success. If you plan to be in London this summer or early fall, don’t miss this extraordinary exhibition. After closing on October 30, Georgia O’Keeffe will continue on to the Bank Austria Kunstforum, in Vienna (November 30, 2016–March 12, 2017), and finally to its only North American venue, the Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto (April 1–June 25, 2017). Exclusively for Members of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Tate Modern will offer complimentary admission to Georgia O’Keeffe when you show your O’Keeffe Museum membership card at the Tate’s ticketing desk. We have also put together resources to help Members plan a visit. For more information, contact Abby Holzer, Membership and Annual Fund Manager, at aholzer@okeeffemuseum.org or 505.946.1037.

O’K EEF F E

s u m m er 2 O 1 6

THE PEDERNAL SOCIETY

“It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it.” —Georgia O’Keeffe

The Pedernal Mountain moved and inspired O’Keeffe as she studied and painted it from her studio at Ghost Ranch. After her death, her ashes were scattered atop Pedernal, as a testament to the bond she felt with the mountain. As Pedernal inspired O’Keeffe, we hope the Pedernal Society will inspire you in your planned giving. We invite you to join this newly formed society, comprising donors who have named the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in their will, trust, retirement plan, life insurance policy, or financial accounts. A bequest of any size will qualify you to join this special group. Your gift will help the Museum fulfill its vision to cultivate memorable, authentic experiences inspired by the life, work, and world of Georgia O’Keeffe. For more information, or if you’ve already named the O’Keeffe Museum in your estate plans, please contact Betty Brownlee, Director of Museum Advancement, at 505.946.1023 or bbrownlee@okeeffemuseum.org. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum cannot provide legal or tax advice. Before making a gift, please consult your attorney or financial planner. Ab ove : Georgia O’Keeffe, My Front Yard, Summer, 1941. Oil on canvas, 20 x 30 in. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

Make your table a work of art

1 Betsy Olmstead for the

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum $24–$90 $70 table runner shown; exclusive designs for the Museum Store

2 Be Home Teak Dish

with Mini Spoons $28

3 Moufelt Felt Coasters

$28 assorted colors

4 Be Home Three-piece

Wood/Copper Cheese Set $50

5 Jonathan Spoons Assorted

Wood Serving Utensils $16–$44

5 6 6 Modern Folk Ware

$20–$125; Santa Fe Artist Jennie Johnsrud creates hand-thrown ceramic designs exclusively for the Museum Store

• 5O5.946.1OO1 • store.okeeffemuseum.org