A new Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit opens a window to unfamiliar works

When you hear the name Georgia O'Keeffe, architecture may not immediately come to mind. "So many people know Georgia O'Keeffe as a painter of flowers, or maybe they know her landscapes, or her paintings of bones; so, something like a barn, I know, is a surprise for many people," said curator Ben Colman. "Curiously, flower pictures represent only about 10% of her artwork."

A new exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts, titled "Georgia O'Keeffe: Architecture," is building a different picture of the artist, showcasing her architectural works through an autobiographical lens.  

"We are looking at the places where she lived and worked, the places that were really formative to her as an individual and as a painter," said Colman.

O'Keeffe was born in 1887 on a Wisconsin dairy farm, a source of inspiration in her works. "When she painted ["My Shanty, Lake George"], she wanted to challenge what she considered misunderstandings of her art," said Colman. "She was very conscious, and maybe self-conscious, about selecting subjects that would not be perceived as typically feminine in their composition."

She would later live in Manhattan, just as skyscrapers began to redefine the city in the 1920s.

"She pays special attention to what she called the sky shapes, the negative space of sky, moon, and clouds that she saw around the buildings," Colman said.

O'Keeffe eventually moved to New Mexico, where she found herself surrounded by adobe structures and desert landscapes.

Over the course of her career, O'Keeffe would go on to complete about 140 architectural paintings. Colman said, "These are pictures where she's asking questions about the nature of the places where she lived, about the qualities of light, atmosphere, and texture of the buildings that she painted."

Georgia O'Keeffe died in 1986 at 98 years old, her legacy grounded in a vast body of work, cementing her presence in American art.

     
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: Chad Cardin.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Watch a celebration of Georgia O'Keeffe (Video)
In a story that aired Aug. 30, 1981, "Sunday Morning" visited Georgia O'Keeffe, who became inextricably linked to the landscapes and desert flowers of New Mexico. To honor the artist, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival had commissioned and dedicated to O'Keeffe a piano quintet by composer John Harbison - music that, like O'Keeffe's paintings, translates stark and unfilled spaces. Reported by Bruce Morton.

For more info:

• "Georgia O'Keeffe: Architecture," at the Detroit Institute of Arts (through Jan. 3, 2027)
• Exhibition catalogue: "Georgia O'Keeffe: Architecture," edited by Benjamin W. Colman (Yale University Press), in Hardcover, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Special thanks to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

See more:

• Georgia O'Keeffe and her visions of Hawaii ("Sunday Morning")
• Almanac: Georgia O'Keeffe ("Sunday Morning")