A Wider Scope

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, examines the newly attributed photographic work of Georgia O’Keeffe

Through January 17

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
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Through 100 photographs, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston traverses the unknown or “quiet” photographic career of Georgia O’Keeffe. The exhibition aptly titled Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer, has sparked a lot of excitement, as it has uncovered 30 years’ worth of the artists unstudied archives of small, film photographs, giving them new life and attention.Todd Webb (1905-2000), Georgia O’Keeffe with Camera, 1959, printed later. Inkjet print. Todd Webb Archive. © Todd Webb Archive, Portland, Maine, USA.

Many of us know O’Keeffe as a leading painter of the 20th century, who was recognized for her depictions of flowers, skyscrapers and Southwestern scenes inspired by her home in New Mexico. However, O’Keeffe also took great interest in photography as a “method of testing composition,” says Lisa Volpe, associate curator of photography for the MFAH. This is also known as “reframing” as O’Keeffe often did in her paintings, “as an array of possible shapes and forms,” the museum notes in their press release.Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), North Patio Corridor, 1956-57. Gelatin silver print. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

Volpe notes that this exhibition was a large undertaking as a lot of the research became an attribution project, analyzing hundreds of works in a variety of collections for three years. “Attribution is rare in modern photography,” she says, “but because she maintained friendships with so many photographers, it was hard to know which ones were hers…We also associate O’Keeffe with the amazing portraits of her by her husband (renowned photographer Alfred Stieglitz). After further research, her photos resembled her paintings in so many ways.” Volpe was able to identify more than 400 images as O’Keeffe’s work.

O’Keeffe was familiar with photography her whole life, and was introduced to it as an art form by her husband, Stieglitz. She began photographing for herself in the early 1950s after an inspiring visit from good friend and photographer Todd Webb. Their adventures, along with her passion for composition, spawned a journey of photographic artworks that came in serial captures, “often photographing the same view throughout the day to create varying compositions,” the museum states. A perfect exa

mple is in O’Keeffe’s series Forbidding Canyon, a series of five Polaroids that capture changing light between two rock faces.Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), 1964–68. Black-and-white Polaroid. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

The exhibition is divided into sections, beginning with pieces like Roofless Room and North Patio Corridor, where she relied on light to reframe these scenes of her famous Abiquiu house in New Mexico. “She would wait for the shadow to move and rephotograph it,” Volpe explains. “The final section is about season. She would wait for entire seasons to change and photograph a subject in the exact same spot. Nature did the reframing for her, as seen in Jimsonweed, illustrating O’Keeffe’s patience to the composition she wanted.” Jimsonweed only blooms at certain times of the year and certain times of the day.Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Roofless Room, 1959-60. Gelatin silver print. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.“[This exhibition] let me know her better,” says Volpe, “and it gives me and others a chance to see through her eyes and her obsessive nature, like in Salita Door, Patio…O’Keeffe painted this adobe door scene at her home two dozen times in painting and drawings. A few years later, she picked up the camera and kept going, capturing it from every angle and every possible shadow. For me, that means she didn’t feel done with it; she’s just using a new tool to investigate.”

Volpe notes that the exhibition is not meant to take away from O’Keeffe’s paintings but rather informs how we look at her paintings, giving us a wider scope of her vision and creativity. The exhibition is in partnership with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and will travel next to the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, among other venues. —