Object number2022.16.3.r

Blue Morning Glories, New Mexico, II

Date1935

Artist Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887-1986)

CultureAmerican

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsIncoming Dimensions: 12 1/4 x 9 in. (31.1 x 22.9 cm)
Framed: 13 5/8 x 10 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (34.6 x 26.7 x 3.8 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Mary Pick Hines, class of 1953

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Painting

SignedSigned and dated on reverse: G. O'Keeffe 35

InscribedOn the reverse, by artist: 35

Catalogue raisonnéLynes, No. 863BibliographyLynes, Barbara Buhler. Georgia O'Keeffe Catalogue Raissoné Volume One. New Haven, Yale University Press 1999, p. 535.ProvenanceAn American Place, New York, N.Y.;
Ann Morgan, New York, N.Y., 1936;
by gift to Malvina Hoffman, New York, N.Y., 1936;
Charles Hoffman, New York, N.Y., date unknown;
Estate of Malvina Hoffman, New York, NY, 1966
(Andrew Crispo Gallery, Inc., New York, N.Y.);
Private collection, New York, N.Y., 1977;
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, N.Y., sale no. 4365, lot no. 249A, 25 April 1980;
The Regis Collection, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1980;
(James Maroney, Inc., New York, N.Y.) 1981;
Estate of private collector, 1989;
Christie’s, New York, N.Y., sale no. 6972, lot no. 204, 1 December 1989;
Beltexsan Galleries, Fort Worth, Texas, 1989;
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1990;
Mary Pick Hines, 1990;
Bequest to The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 2022

Exhibition HistoryGeorgia O'Keeffe: Exhibition of Recent Paintings, 1935, An American Place, New York, 1936
Georgia O'Keeffe and her Circle, McKissick Museum, Columbia, and Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, 1980

Label TextO'Keeffe painted over two hundred works depicting close-up views of flowers. Begun in the mid-1920s, these paintings offered an innovative perspective on her subject matter and helped establish her reputation as a major figure in American modernism. Rather than using the traditional format of tabletop still-lifes, O'Keeffe took a dramatically close viewpoint, cropping the flowers to focus on the abstract interplay of color and form. As O'Keeffe explained in 1946, "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else." Blue Morning Glories, New Mexico, II highlights two blossoms seen from different vantage points, with accents of yellow that intensify the broad passages of blue and purple tones. While some critics have seen O'Keeffe's seemingly intimate yet monumental depictions of flowers as symbolically asserting female sexuality, their abstract qualities invite multiple interpretations.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu