Show Preview | Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico

Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
February 10-April 28

Georgia O’Keeffe, Rust Red Hills, oil, 16 x 30.

This story was featured in the February 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Order the Southwest Art February 2013 print edition, or download the Southwest Art February 2013 issue now…Or just subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!

When most people hear the name Georgia O’Keeffe, they immediately think of her large-scale, close-up depictions of flowers. But O’Keeffe painted and drew many other subjects throughout her long and successful career. A new exhibition organized by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM, brings to light a relatively unknown aspect of O’Keeffe’s art and thinking—her deep respect for the diverse and distinctive cultures of northern New Mexico.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Kachina, oil, 22 x 12.

The exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico: Architecture, Katsinam, and the Land travels to Denver, CO, this month and is on view at the Denver Art Museum from February 10 through April 28. Chronicling her artwork created in New Mexico,  it features 53 works—including 15 rarely seen depictions of Hopi kachinas, paintings of New Mexico’s Hispanic and Native American architecture and cultural objects, as well as many of her more well-known New Mexico landscapes. The majority of the pieces in the exhibit are oil paintings, but there are also a few drawings and watercolors on display.

“This is an excellent chance for people in Denver to really see O’Keeffe,” says Thomas Smith, director of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. The museum hosts a variety of programs in conjunction with the exhibit, including tours, lectures, and adult classes. Visit its website for the most up-to-date information.

For Smith, the story of O’Keeffe’s life is a fascinating tale that makes this exhibit all the more interesting. “I think something people don’t grasp as much about O’Keeffe is her longtime love of, and dedication to, the American West,” Smith says. In 1929 O’Keeffe began spending part of every year in New Mexico, and after the death of her husband in 1949, she made the state her permanent home. “When O’Keeffe went to New Mexico she started working with new colors, simplifying colors and forms to express the landscape as she saw it,” Smith says, adding, “She went to New Mexico to find quiet and solitude, to find a place that could be hers.” —Lindsay Mitchell

contact information
720.865.5000
www.denverartmuseum.org

Featured in the February 2013 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art magazine February 2013 digital download
Southwest Art magazine February 2013 print edition
Or subscribe to Southwest Art magazine and never miss a story!