Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico: A Sense of Place

About this book

When Georgia OKeeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 she was instantly drawn to the stark beauty of its unusual architectural and landscape forms. In 1929 she began spending part of almost every year painting there first in Taos and subsequently in and around Alcalde Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch with occasional excursions to remote sites she found particularly compelling. Georgia OKeeffe and New Mexico is the first book to analyze the artists famous depictions of these Southwestern landscapes. Beautifully illustrated and gracefully written the book accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Georgia OKeeffe Museum in Santa Fe New Mexico. It reproduces the exhibitions 50 paintings and includes striking photographs of the sites that inspired them as well as diagrams of the regions distinctive geology. The book examines the magnificence of OKeeffes work through essays by three noted authors. Barbara Buhler Lynes Curator of the Georgia OKeeffe Museum and organizer of the exhibition discusses the relationship of the artists paintings to the places that inspired her. Frederick Turner offers an illuminating essay contrasting OKeeffes fabled aloofness from the well-established art colony in Santa Fe with her intense closeness to the local landscape she so fiercely loved. Lesley Poling-Kempes furnishes a fascinating chronicle of OKeeffes years in the region as well as a useful explanation of the geological forces that produced the intense colors and dramatic shapes of the landscapes OKeeffe painted. EXHIBIT SCHEDULE: ? Georgia OKeeffe Museum Santa Fe New Mexico June 11-September 12 2004 Columbus Museum of Art Columbus Ohio October 1 2004-January 16 2005 Albright-Knox Art Gallery Buffalo New York January 28-May 08 2005