Georgia O'Keeffe, The Fabulous Exhibit, Oh Her Paintings and Her Clothes

When I heard that the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) was having a Georgia Totto O'Keeffe exhibit called, Art, Image and Style, I was rather excited, since she is my 4th cousin, once removed. It was widely attended when we were there on Sunday, so I was limited as to what photos I could take. There were too many people looking at her painting, The Brooklyn Bridge, so I couldn't take it. The majority of the items shown were photographs of Georgia and a lot of clothes, beautiful, original, and simple. However, to my disappointment, there were few paintings, perhaps eight or so, but I was familiar with two, so I was pleased to see them. All photos are enlarged to see the details in her clothes. Georgia is my 4th cousin once removed.

There were not many pieces of her artwork. But, I loved her clothes and learned she made many of her own outfits. She was fashionable from an early age, as she knew her style.

The photos were taken in the order I saw the items, and all quotes were taken from the place cards.

Portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1908. About 21 years old.

September 6, 1948. About 61 years old.

The painting is In the Patio IX, which was about 1964, and the "Chute" dress by Emilio Pucci, was about 1954.

"The V was a significant form for O'Keeffe. Photographs of her young and old reveal how she continuously used V necklines as a visual frame for her long neck."

"Her modern black dresses with white trim, flat shoes, and thick stockings were so radically out of character with traditional feminine dress codes that they generated local curiosity and gossip."

Photos were taken by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. She fearlessly appeared both as a male and a female.

Kimono-style coat, late 1920s-early 1930s.

Black Pansy and Forget-Me-Nots, 1926.

2 Yellow Leaves, 1928.

Smock; 1950s-60s. Apron; 20th century.

The print, 1968 is, Georgia O'Keeffe with Chair, 1958. "She mostly likely designed this madras dress, cleverly creating the abstract and seamless interaction of the red and purple areas."

Stump in Red Hills, 1940.

Ram's Head and White Hollyhock, New Mexico, 1935.

"She her frame maker fashion a scalloped and punched sheet metal frame. In later years, she was drawn to the blue scallops that run uniformly around the hemline of Marimekko's 'Varjo' dress and the edge of Ferragamo's suede flats." (See dress and shoes below, with scallop design.)

March 1, 1968.

I asked a guard if I could take photos because I hadn't seen anybody do it. Fortunately, the answer was yes, and that led to a nice conversation. I shared some of my genealogy information about where she was born (Wisconsin), and told him I had her tree on my iPad. He was interested, so I shared my ancestry tree right there with this mighty impressed man now interested in genealogy technology.

"O'Keeffe bought her first wrap dresses from Neiman Marcus in Texas in the late 1950s. She owned at least one of the store's first iterations of the dress called a 'Model's Smock.' It was made of pink cotton, long-sleeved, unlined, with no buttons or zippers, only a matching belt. She then purchased other versions of the same style, wearing them in layers or with a light blouse underneath, and accessorizing them with one of her belts, pins, scarves, or hats. She liked her wrap dresses so much that she took a well-worn one apart and made a paper pattern from it. Local dressmakers recreated it for her in different colors and materials. She had two dozen examples in her closets when she died."

Georgia O'Keeffe with Painting in the Desert, N. M., 1960 by Tony Vaccaro. She is holding her painting, Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow.

Blue II, 1958.

Another exhibit I went to is, Georgia O'Keeffe, Photography Exhibit With a Couple of Paintings you can see my post at: https://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2024/01/georgia-okeeffe-photography-exhibit.html

While doing some research for this post, I discovered a genealogy gem. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico has a wealth of information on their web page, but the best thing, for me was the detailed timeline of her life. Please see at:

https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe/timeline/

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

Interesting article about Georgia's sister.

Ida O’Keeffe Is Finally Getting Her First Solo Museum Exhibition, an article in Smithsonian.com, dated June 1, 2018.