Georgia O'Keeffe: "My New Yorks"

by Sarah Kelly Oehler, Annelise K. Madsen, Adrienne Brown (Contributor)

A revelatory study of Georgia O’Keeffe’s New York paintings of the late 1920s and their deep significance within the artist’s development
 
In 1924 Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) first moved to the Shelton Hotel in New York with her husband, the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz. The Shelton was Manhattan’s earliest residential skyscraper, and its dizzying heights inspired O’Keeffe to create a powerful series of approximately twenty-five paintings and numerous drawings over a span of about five years. She called these “my New Yorks,” and they overwhelmingly consist of two types of sprawling observations looking down onto the city and humbling views directed up at the newly built urban monoliths. Exploring the New York skyline, O’Keeffe resisted the approach of contemporaries such as Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand—who celebrated New York as a streamlined, impersonal series of geometric canyons—and instead portrayed it as an amalgamation of the organic and the inorganic, the natural and the constructed. Only in this way could she express New York (in her words) “as it is felt.”
 
Reshaping our understanding of this pivotal yet underappreciated period in O’Keeffe’s storied career, this publication situates the New York paintings within the artist’s larger oeuvre and examines how these works reflect narratives of built environments, racialized space, and the politics of place.

Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago 
 
Exhibition  

The Art Institute of Chicago
(June 2–September 22, 2024) High Museum, Atlanta
(October 25, 2024–February 16, 2025) 

Genres: Art

216 pages, Hardcover

Published June 25, 2024

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

“My New Yorks would turn the world over"--Georgia O'Keefe, about 1925

“One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt”--O'Keefe, 1926

I finally went 9/2/24 to the Chicago Art Institute exhibition Of Georgia O'Keefe: My New Yorks, and picked up the hard cover exhibition catalogue on my way out, featuring highlights and essays. Really interesting to see the relationship between her southwestern US work and her New York work, which I was (of course) less familiar with.

One thing I found both completely unsurprising and nevertheless maddening is how discouraged she initially was by husband Steiglitz (and some of the other art world boys) to even paint the buildings of Manhattan. Yet she persevered. . . .

There are more than enough essays here on O'Keefe's New York work in the context of her career. But this is a gorgeous hardcover book. As of now the exhibit will be in Atlanta until February 2025. If you missed it here in Chicago, see it there if you can.

[M Shomaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhibition catalog from the "My New Yorks" exhibit, hosted at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2024.

[Bob Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the exhibition catalogue from Georgia O’Keeffe’s “My New Yorks” Exhibition currently showing to great acclaim at the Art Institute of Chicago. I was less familiar with Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings of New York skyscrapers when she had not yet hit her stride and become famous than I am of her more recognizable paintings of flower blossoms, clouds, desert landscapes, and cow skulls from New Mexico painted later in her career.
But no less stunning. She experimented by flattening 3-D space into two dimensions, simplifying shapes with large swaths of highly contrasted color, removing details to cook down her vision to its essence. This was the young Georgia O’Keeffe hoaning her skills.
I would have given it five stars, but two of the essays didn’t work for me. They seemed forced in their viewpoint, and were stilted in their writing style.

[Andrea Engle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lavishly illustrated volume is the exhibition catalogue for an eponymous show at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, on view from October 25, 2024, to February 16, 2025 (having originated at the Art Institute of Chicago) … make your plans now to attend the airing of these iconic works by Ms. O’Keeffe of the New York cityscape … as she herself put it in 1926: “One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.” … absolutely stellar …

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

always feel inspired by georgia o’keefe’s representations of nature and enjoyed getting to know more about her love of my nyc

[Saima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regret missing this exhibit.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating look at Georgia O’Keefe’s less know work as a New York artist. Currently inspiring my daily drawing.