Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

by Peter H. Hassrick

Opened in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1997, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum houses the first collection of works devoted to an American woman artist. Exceptional color reproductions of 86 of the artist's works, several of which are double-spread gatefolds, distinguish this volume, which features essays by four art historians on O'Keeffe's significance to the art world. Included is a special photography section with pictures of O'Keeffe, some taken by her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz, at different times in her long life.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book and also elucidating. It has many interesting essays about Georgia O’Keeffe’s life (there’s a lot of biographical information here) and work, including several photos of the artist. Many color photos showing her work from her different periods. Wish I had read it before my trip to the Art Institute of Chicago – I really enjoyed her paintings exhibited there, but I wish I’d already had the knowledge that I got from this book before my visit. It’s a lovely book. Now I want to go to this museum!

[Eric Cartier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lengthy final essay by Barbara Rose especially increased my understanding of and appreciation for O'Keeffe's work, much of which is beautifully reproduced here, including foldout pages for horizontal paintings. In particular, I liked the figurative watercolors from the late 1910s, and the distilled and powerful patio door oils from the 1940s and 1950s. Many of O'Keeffe's southwestern landscapes are hypnotic, too, and her pieces that combine flowers, bones, earth, and sky are surreal. I only wish the opening essay were axed (or penned by a better critic), that there were brief bios for the critics, and that there were more images. Nevertheless, this is definitely a keeper in my growing collection of art books.

[Judy]

The first essay by Mark Stevens has too much emphasis on her gender.
"Another of the continuous threads of O'Keefe's life was her commitment to Asian philosophy and aesthetics. She appreciated the economy, the elegance, and the mysterious sense of infinite space- at once both page and sky - suggested but not depicted in Asian art. These delicate works, particularly scroll paintings of landscapes, appealed to her sense of restraint and refinement. She learned from them to dispose of the horizon line, the common anchor that distinguishes Western from Eastern art.

[Taylor Friese · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful to flip through but I really wish we could make more books like this with a diverse selection of critics. I'd be particularly interested in seeing this work through a native lense since her work is so American.

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

A pretty convincing argument that O'Keeffe had no talent. A 5th-grader can paint like this.

[Cws]

XOS-759.13O'K