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Georgia O’Keeffe:
To See Takes Time
April 09, 2023 – August 12, 2023
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art announces Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, the first exhibition to investigate the artist’s works on paper made in series. Using charcoal, watercolor, pastel, and graphite, she explored forms and phenomena—from abstract rhythms to nature’s cycles—across multiple examples. Some of these sequences also gave rise to related paintings, which will be installed alongside these works on paper. On view in MoMA’s third-floor south galleries from April 9 through August 12, 2023, the exhibition reveals a lesser-known side of this artist, foregrounding O’Keeffe’s persistently modern process on paper. Over 120 works created over more than four decades—including key examples from MoMA’s collection—demonstrate the ways in which O’Keeffe developed, repeated, and changed motifs that blur the boundary between observation and abstraction. Seen together, these works demonstrate how drawing in series allowed O’Keeffe to revisit and rework subjects throughout her career, and reveal the thoughtful material choices behind her resplendent compositions.
The exhibition is organized by Samantha Friedman, Associate Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, with Laura Neufeld, Associate Paper Conservator, The David Booth Conservation Department, and Emily Olek, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints. Realized with the participation of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.
The exhibition is sponsored by Getty through The Paper Project initiative.
Leadership funding is provided by the Xin Zhang and Shiyi Pan Endowment Fund and the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation.
Major support is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art and by the Dian Woodner Exhibition Endowment Fund.
Generous funding is provided by the Robert Lehman Foundation.
Additional support is provided by David Bushler.
The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Press Kit
Images
NOTE: All images of works by Georgia O’Keeffe must represent the entire work unaltered by cropping, overprinting, superimposing, or bleeding to the edges, and must appear fully captioned and with copyright notice as provided.
Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star No. II, 1917. Watercolor on paper. 8 3/4 × 12″ (22.2 × 30.5 cm). Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. Photography by Dwight Primiano. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star No.III, 1917. Watercolor on paper mounted on board. 8 7/8 x 11 7/8″ (22.7 x 30.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Straus Fund, 1958. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Evening Star, 1917. Watercolor on paper. 13 3/8 x 17 11/16” (34 x 45 cm). Yale University Art Gallery. The John Hill Morgan, B.A. 1893, LL.B. 1896, M.A. (Hon.) 1929, Fund, the Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund, and Gifts of Friends in Honor of Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., B.A. 1960. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. No. 12 Special, 1916. Charcoal on paper. 24 x 19″ (61 x 48.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1995. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. No. 8 – Special (Drawing No. 8), 1916. Charcoal on paper. Sheet (Irregular): 24 1/2 × 18 7/8in. (62.2 × 47.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul Purchase Fund. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Special No.39, 1919. Charcoal on paper. 19 5/8 x 12 3/4″ (49.8 x 32.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation, 1995. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. An Orchid, 1941. Pastel on paper mounted on board. 27 5/8 x 21 3/4″ (70.2 x 55.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Bequest of Georgia O’Keeffe, 1990. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Drawing X, 1959. Charcoal on paper. 24 7/8 x 18 5/8″ (63.2 x 47.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange), 1972. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Train at Night in the Desert, 1916. Watercolor and pencil on paper. 11 7/8 x 8 7/8″ (30.3 x 22.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired with matching funds from the Committee on Drawings and the National Endowment for the Arts, 1979. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Georgia O’Keeffe. Eagle Claw and Bean Necklace, 1934. Charcoal on paper. 19 x 25 1/8″ (48.5 x 63.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously (by exchange), 1936. © 2022 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Cover of Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time, published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2023.