Some Memories of Drawings

by Georgia O'Keeffe, Doris Bry (Editor)

This beautiful book is a collection of Georgia O'Keeffe's major drawings, done between 1915 and 1963. Each drawing is accompanied by the artist's comments, usually on how, why, where, or when she made the drawing. The book was originally published in 1974 in a signed, limited edition of one hundred copies, which has since become a collectors' item. O'Keeffe's text was her first writing intended for book publication. This new edition, including an updated bibliography, is intended, in Doris Bry's words, as "a tribute to O'Keeffe's drawings, an appreciation of her use of the written word, and a proof that a beautifully designed and printed book can be made available to a wide public at an affordable cost."

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Memoir

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It was in the fall of 1915 that I decided not to use any color until I couldn't get along without it, and I believe it was June before I needed blue." O'Keeffe was as economical with words as with colors, and this is a very cool little book. All but two of the works reproduced are charcoal or pencil drawings. Ten are from 1916 through 1919: a sparse blue abstract painting from 1916. A couple of drawings from art school; several from her time in Canyon, Texas; a sweet abstraction of a friend from a 1916 camping trip. Around 1934, she made her first trip to New Mexico, and she has a couple of drawings of bones she picked up then. Around 1959, she flew around the world, took photos from the airliner, and made two drawings of desert rivers included here -- which are very much like her later paintings of the Rio Chama in New Mexico. The last painting, from 1959, is of a road from her then-new house in Abiquiu, NM. When O'Keeffe was looking over the originals of these drawings 1n 1969 with Doris Bry, her long-time friend and curator, the artist remarked, "I never did any better."

So. You should get a copy of this little book and judge for yourself. In her 1988 editor's note to this reprint, Bry says her aim was to make a beautifully designed and printed book available to a wide public at an affordable price. I think she succeeded.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book aloud to my mother and aunt in the car after visiting Georgia O'Keeffe's home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. This book contains sketches and drawings made by the artist with her comments on how, why, when and where she made them or just a few words sometimes more mysterious then the art work. This book is the first time O'Keeffe has written for the public. It is a moving snapshot of her mind and life. I thoroughly enjoyed her words as much as her images.

[David Sandum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book with Georgia's own journal entries and comments. Easy to read with many of her beautiful drawings, explained in the text. I bought it visiting O'Keeffe's home at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 2010, and have often revisited it. Highly recommended for all art lovers and admirers of the American West.

[Laura Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

just needing some inspiration this morning...

[kennedy clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

although one would perceive this a very short and simple read, this feels sort of like a sacred text to me. this isn’t consumption of a body of text/literature, it’s more of a meditation.

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last summer I fell head over heels for Georgia O’Keeffe, her art, her feminist ideals, her whole self, and have been reading as many books about her as I can get my hands on. This is a short but beautiful book with gorgeous prints of some of her early work (no poppies, a lot of abstracts) with her own reflections on the piece. On some pieces she goes on for pages, on others it is a half-sentence. It is interesting to note how O’Keeffe’s opinions of her own art changed from the time it was originally produced to the time, decades later, when this book was created. I love some of O’Keeffe’s earliest watercolors, probably much more than her vibrant red and orange poppies that adorn the walls of dorm rooms and breakfast nooks around the world. Her abstract art is, by far, my favorite. This book details those pieces much more than her later, more famous works. I love it!

[Kara Mealer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An artist describes her work.

[Marco))) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love her.

[Trudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection, and wonderful addition to anyone's Georgia shelf.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a commentary by Georgia O'Keefe about her work, looking at the very first drawings where she broke away from the model of painting she had been given to the discovery of self-expression beginning with Blue Lines.

I was particularly taken with one passage because it connects to a work of fiction I created for my first MFA residency about a painter who stops using color: "It was in fall of 1915 that I decided not to use any color until I couldn't get along without it and I believe it was June before I needed blue."

I loved this line, and the book was worth it for this line, but mostly no great revelation.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plane ride home from New Mexico. Inspiring.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's so wonderfully straightforward and articulate about her own work!