A trove of Georgia O'Keeffe's photographs on view for the first time in Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exhibition
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Saturday, November 23, 2024


A trove of Georgia O'Keeffe's photographs on view for the first time in Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exhibition
Georgia O’Keeffe, Salita Door, Patio, 1956–57, gelatin silver print, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Lane Collection. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / image © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.



HOUSTON, TX.- Georgia O’Keeffe is a groundbreaking figure of American Modernism, widely recognized for her paintings of New York skyscrapers, radical depictions of flowers, and stark landscapes of the American southwest. Less known is that she quietly honed a photography practice just as distinct as, yet complementary to, her paintings and drawings.

This October, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents the first exhibition devoted to O’Keeffe’s photographic practice with the debut of Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer. Organized in partnership with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, the exhibition reveals the wider scope of the artist’s career through some 90 photographs from a previously unstudied archive—a discovery led by MFAH associate curator of photography Lisa Volpe. Photographs in the exhibition will be complemented by 17 paintings and drawings of landscapes, flowers, and still lifes from public and private collections across the country.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer will be on view in the Upper Brown Pavilion of the MFAH Caroline Wiess Law Building from October 17, 2021, through January 17, 2022, before travelling to the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts; the Denver Art Museum; and the Cincinnati Art Museum.

“Georgia O’Keeffe has long been the subject of exhibitions, portraiture, and volumes of scholarship. She captivated the art world with her works on paper and canvas, yet her photography has never been studied or known despite being essential to her practice,” said Gary Tinterow, Director, the Margaret Alek Williams Chair, MFAH. “We are pleased to present this revelatory exhibition and expand appreciation of one of the most innovative and expressive artists our culture has produced.”

While Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) forged a career as one of the most significant painters of the 20th century, she also had a lifelong connection to photography. Captured on film throughout her life—in early family photos, travel snapshots, and portraits by a cavalcade of photographic artists including her husband, Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946)—O’Keeffe was no stranger to the medium. She expressed her unique perspective through all aspects of her life, and by the time she began her photographic practice in the mid-1950s, her singular identity and artistry were well developed.




Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer is the culmination of three years of research led by Volpe, who analyzed hundreds of works in different collections and identified more than 400 photographic images by O’Keeffe. Volpe attributed, dated, and catalogued the photographs by examining small details in the images and analyzing the artist’s distinct style.

“In her 1976 book, O’Keeffe mentions her use of photography. Yet her mastery of painting stymied any research into this area for decades. It was a part of her artistic practice waiting to be examined,” Volpe said. “This exhibition reveals the ways in which she used photography as part of her unique and encompassing artistic vision. She claimed the medium for herself and her own artistic use—a radical act late in her career that begs for continued scholarship.”

The exhibition is organized around key tenets of O’Keeffe’s photographic approach: reframing, the rendering of light, and seasonal change.

Reframing views through the lens of her camera, Georgia O’Keeffe saw her environment as an array of possible shapes and forms. Moving from right to left, angling the camera from high to low, or turning it vertically and horizontally, she composed and recomposed her photographs to find harmonious compositions. Prints from O’Keeffe’s serial captures of the Natural Stone Arch near Leho’ula Beach, ’Aleamai, Hawaii are a highlight, demonstrating the artist’s intuitive search for the ideal relationship of expressive forms.

On paper, canvas, or in a photograph, dappled light and dark shadows are not merely fleeting effects for O’Keeffe. They provide weighty and essential forms. Sensitive to this formal potential, the artist often photographed the same view throughout the day to create varying compositions. A striking example is O’Keeffe’s 1964 Forbidding Canyon, a series of five Polaroids that capture changing light between two rock faces. Photographs of her beloved Chow Chows also express such possibilities, contrasting dark dog fur against the sun-washed landscape to find the tension between depth, flatness, realism, and abstraction.

O’Keeffe also explored seasonal changes by photographing her environment of evolving foliage and light year-round. Her photographs of the Chama River and a kiva ladder in her New Mexico home capture changes in vegetation, precipitation, and sunlight. Similarly, O’Keeffe regularly photographed the jimsonweed around her home, watching as the trumpet-like flowers obeyed both the cycle of the seasons and a shorter daily cycle, opening in the afternoon and closing with sunrise, from late summer until first frost. O’Keeffe’s jimsonweed prints signal the artist’s ongoing fascination with the transformations of nature.










Today's News

October 17, 2021

At Frieze London, the art world inches toward normalcy

Hirschl & Adler Modern opens an exhibition of works by James Castle

High-end design comes to the fish tank

'Mackinnon - Fine Furniture and Works of Art' at Christie's London this November

Tate acquires new works at Frieze thanks to fund supported by Endeavor

Heritage Auctions presents 'The Soul of a Nation: Black Art From a Distinguished Collector' in November

A trove of Georgia O'Keeffe's photographs on view for the first time in Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exhibition

Queen Nefertari's Egypt opens at Portland Art Museum

Rare Posters Auction #85 presents 490 rare and iconic works

500 years of fashion, created from paper featured at Munson-Williams Museum of Art

The June Kelly Gallery opens an exhibition of sculpture by Colin Chase

Claire Tabouret's fourth solo exhibition with Almine Rech opens in Paris

P·P·O·W opens an exhibition of large-scale paintings by Robin F. Williams

The FLAG Art Foundation opens a solo exhibition of new work by Cinga Samson

Lilly Library acquires more than 20,000 linguistic books collected by 'Dame of Dictionaries'

Emma Enderby appointed Head of Program and Research (Chief Curator) at Haus der Kunst

The gaming console that never was: Infinium Phantom prototype rises at Heritage Auctions

Nirvana takes the stage: Kurt Cobain-signed Nevermind CD offered at Swann

Gabriel Garcia Marquez' clothes to go on sale in Mexico

'Just me and the fabric': Vietnam artist finds success with cloth creations

Explore cabinetmaker Jean-Henri Riesener with innovative new digital tools

The Neon Museum promotes Jennifer Kleven to senior development officer

Penn Badgley flexes new dance moves

Farewell to a ballerina with Borscht Belt humor and 'Legs of Life'

Stock Twits

10 Aruban Mind, Body, and Soul Rejuvenating Experiences in 2022

Greg Welch: The Man Behind Cannabiscapes Weed Art




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful