77 years later, the NYC MoMA is hosting its second retrospective of Georgia O’Keeffe. Curator Samantha Friedman introduces the Mother of American modernism and her paper works
MoMA’s 1946 Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition versus the 2023 one: a different approach
The current Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition held by the MoMA does not mark the first time the museum has dedicated a retrospective to the American artist. The first time was in 1946, the museum’s first retrospective of a woman artist. Seventy-seven years later, the Museum of Modern Art is hosting its second retrospective of the painter, this time with an approach that differentiates the Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time exhibit from its predecessor.
«There are more differences than similarities between the two exhibitions. The exhibition in 1946 had fifty-seven works, three of which were works on paper. It was mainly an exhibition of the artist’s paintings, which makes sense because she’s an artist who’s better known for her paintings. This exhibition focuses on the artist’s works on paper and, in particular, the way she made her works on paper in series. That exhibition was a much more general overview of the artist at a much different time while this exhibition has a much more specific focus».
Going beyond Georgia O’Keeffe’s oil paintings: look at her artist in a new way at the MoMA
Nicknamed the Mother of American modernism, painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 – 1986) is known to the general public for her oil painting like Grey Lines with Black, Blue, and Yellow, 1923 (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum) and Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1936 (Indianapolis Museum of Art). Her serial practice on paper is conspicuous though lesser known. Bringing this part of her artistic production into the spotlight is the goal of the Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time exhibition.
«The show seeks to introduce visitors to a side of O’Keeffe that they may not know. If we close our eyes and someone says to picture a Georgia O’Keeffe work, probably ninety-five percent of us picture a flower painting. So this exhibition is to introduce another aspect of the artist’s work: her works on paper, and to focus on how she did her works on paper in series and explored an idea across multiple sheets». The curator said. «The aim is to introduce people to a different side of her work and, in doing so, to show her as a much different artist than the one that we might have in mind, a much more radical artist, an exploratory artist, a restless artist».
What connects Georgia O’Keeffe’s oil paintings and her works on paper?
While O’Keeffe’s artistic production on paper is less known than her canvases, those works don’t exist in a vacuum but are connected to her oil painting production, her overall artistic exploration, and life events. «In some cases, she explored certain motifs across mediums. So we might have a series that starts on paper where she explores something, and then it gets translated into oil. We see that throughout the exhibition in multiple ways. We also see great differences, and O’Keefe herself speaks to what she likes about different mediums».
Through O’Keefe’s extensive correspondence, we get a peek into her relationship with the mediums and materials she uses, which allows a deeper understanding of her artistic choices and production than we’d have by looking at her artworks or biographies alone. Giving space to the artist’s voice was one of the goals behind the exhibit; which is why quotes from her writings are featured throughout the exhibition, from the catalog and the wall labels.
«When she takes up painting more seriously, starting in 1918, when she moves to New York, her works on paper practice slows down a bit, but she takes up pastel more intentionally on paper as a corollary to oil paint because it has the same color palette and it has the same matte texture. She says she likes working in pastel because it moves more quickly. She likes working in oil because it’s more definite. She tells us what her different feelings about the mediums are. Still, at the same time, you can see her exploring similar motifs and similar ideas across those different media and in conjunction with each other».
What are the characteristics of the paper used by O’Keeffe in the works exhibited at the MoMA?
The exhibition focuses on the material used by the artist in the works: paper. «O’Keeffe was using many different kinds of paper. The show has different mediums on paper. She works in charcoal, watercolor, pastels, pencil, and sometimes ink. But she’s also working on so many different kinds of paper». O’Keeffe’s choice of paper was far from unintentional but reflective of her artistic needs and vision in different moments of her life. «Sometimes she’s using the paper that’s the most fitting traditionally for that medium, and sometimes she’s very deviating from that».
The exhibition features artworks executed on a variety of paper types, like the Japanese rice paper used in the quartet of works from the Brooklyn Museum, blue watercolors from 1916, a counterintuitive typology to use with watercolor because it would have wrinkled or cockled upon the wet pigment hitting the paper, so much so that those wrinkles are visible in the finished works, showing her interest in experimenting with this phenomenon.
In the Evening Star series, the centerpiece of the show, the first seven are on the cheap cartridge paper the artist used in many of her early watercolor works, but for the eighth, she switched to a longer fiber paper that absorbs the watercolor in a different way, creating a diffused effect that mimics the quality of the sunset she was portraying.
Taking time – the MoMA’s exhibition focus on Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting series
The exhibition was named after a quote from the American artist «in a way—nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small—we haven’t time—and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time». The concepts of time and taking time are explored in the exhibition through the artist’s many series on paper, with a number of series getting reunited for the first time for this show.
«I would say the most exciting series reunited for the show is the Evening Star series from 1917. These are resplendent watercolors, where you see the progression of a sunset. So it’s a series where the logic becomes one of duration, one of following a natural phenomenon that unfolds over time». Samantha Friedman told Lampoon Magazine. «It’s the first time all eight have been together, and knowing the light sensitivity of these works and the difficulty the lender faces sharing them, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the last time in quite some time that all eight are reunited».
Recurrences in Georgia O’Keeffe’s works – the occurrence of her spiralling composition
A spiraling composition is one of the trademarks of Georgia O’Keeffe’s style. This type of composition is featured in several artworks in the exhibition and across various mediums. A charcoal drawing from the Whitney collection hung with a watercolor painting from 1916, featuring a spiral form, and a pastel from 1922 she made at Lake George, which features this composition in the reflection in a pond. The same spiraling form appears again in her pastel from 1945 in a goat’s horn.
«I like to think about the transition from her starting with a moment in 1916, when she talks about the shapes in her head that are not like what anyone taught her, and so she’s conjuring this spiral form in her head. Then at a certain point, it flips, where she’s attentive to the occurrence of spirals in the world around her, and so she sees them in something like a goat’s horn or the reflection on the water. She has that structure embedded in her mind, but she also starts to observe it in the world».
Looking at O’Keeffe’s artistic journey through her Canna paintings
O’Keeffe’s 1924 “Red Canna” oil painting is one of her most famous ones, but the artist had explored that subject earlier in her career in four Canna paintings on paper dating to a few years earlier. These earlier paintings of Canna flowers are featured in the exhibition, offering museum-goers a chance to see the artist’s stylistic progress.
«The treatment of those flowers in the paintings on paper is so different from that in the flower paintings we are more familiar with. In those Canna Lily paintings, she fills the whole canvas, they’re red all over, and she’s zoomed so closely into the flower’s structure. The watercolors have a motif on a white background ground, so you have that space around it. But there are differences also in the mediums as, of course, oil and watercolor behave differently». The curator said, «Watercolors are hard to control, and you cannot correct a mistake.
When you’re working with oil, you can paint over it; you can scrape off, smooth, adjust, blend, and do all of these things. Watercolor is much more immediate and spontaneous, and you are committed to what you’ve done. So in the watercolors, you get these decisive calligraphic strokes to create the different elements of the flower. Whereas in the paintings, you get considered smooth surfaces».
Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time – the exhibition in New York
Through August 12, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Manhattan, New York City, will be hosting an exhibition titled Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, a retrospective of the American artist’s work in its Edward Steichen Galleries. The show was curated by Associate Curator Samantha Friedman, with Associate Paper Conservator Laura Neufeld and Curatorial Assistant Emily Olek.
This exhibition features the American artist’s works on paper in different mediums instead of her works on canvas. «The artist explores motifs on paper that don’t make their way to oil in some cases. You see her, in many cases working in a more abstract way on paper than you do in oil, and you also can see and sense her experimentation: you can see her process». Samantha Friedman explained.
Samantha Friedman
Samantha Friedman is the associate Curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)’s Department of Drawings and Prints.
