Georgia O’Keeffe is renowned for her dreamlike portrayals of flowers, sunlight, landscapes, and animal bones, characterized by their flowing forms and organic curves that seem almost to dissolve before the viewer’s eyes. This artistic style appears to contrast sharply with the rigid lines of farmhouses and barns, as well as the towering skyscrapers of New York City. Nevertheless, these elements are at the forefront of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ latest exhibition, titled “Georgia O’Keeffe: Architecture.”
“I aimed to present a new narrative about an artist who is widely recognized,” remarked Ben Coleman, the curator at the Detroit Institute, who has organized nearly 40 pieces by O’Keeffe. “We can reevaluate works that O’Keeffe deemed significant and honor them in the manner she envisioned.”
The exhibition was inspired by O’Keeffe’s 1932 painting “Stables,” which is the sole piece from the artist included in the museum’s collection. This serene side view of the stables is infused with vibrant greens, deep burgundies, and delicately textured whites. O’Keeffe created this work during her numerous journeys through the rural landscapes of upstate New York and remote regions of eastern Quebec, prior to her permanent relocation to New Mexico in 1949.
Coleman noted that “Stables” prompted him to explore O’Keeffe’s work from a new perspective, looking for additional examples of her architectural themes and her exploration of color and texture. “The painting exhibits a meticulous use of geometry, which may surprise those familiar with O’Keeffe,” Coleman explained.
With a focus on the geometric aspects of “Stables,” Coleman began to discover more of O’Keeffe’s architectural works. This exploration included her pieces created from the view of her apartment window in New York City, where she lived with her husband Alfred Stieglitz. They began their life together on the 11th floor of the Shelton Hotel in 1926, eventually moving to the 30th floor, which was one of the tallest residential buildings globally at that time.
This elevated perspective allowed O’Keeffe to produce remarkable cityscapes, including a series that captured the gritty industrial life surrounding the East River. The images of smokestacks emitting pollution and rows of indistinct buildings contrast sharply with her more famous nature-inspired works. Nevertheless, Coleman believes these pieces reveal her skill in conveying the essence of a location through its architecture, a talent she later applied to the adobe structures of New Mexico.
The exhibition also features a striking representation of the Brooklyn Bridge, created in 1949 as O’Keeffe was preparing to leave New York. This piece reveres the iconic structure, showcasing a flattened perspective of its well-known arches, reminiscent of stained glass windows, and elegantly framing the bridge’s cables. It cleverly abstracts the familiar form while still anchoring the viewer in reality.
“This painting is deeply personal,” said Coleman. “It captures a pivotal moment of change for O’Keeffe, inviting us to share in her departure. The way she manipulates light and color variations imbues it with a poetic quality, akin to gazing through a stained glass window.”
Another significant highlight of “Georgia O’Keeffe: Architecture” is the collection of paintings depicting a modest patio door, a cherished element of O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. She purchased the house in 1945 and spent four years restoring it to its former glory, making it her permanent residence in 1949 until her death in 1984.
The patio door paintings are part of a series of nearly abstract works centered around doors that O’Keeffe painted in the 1940s and 1950s, notable for their diverse color palettes. “Once she encountered this patio door,” Coleman noted, “O’Keeffe realized it was essential to her life. She felt inspired to paint it numerous times, creating one of the most remarkable series in her career, blending abstraction with precision.”
These works place O’Keeffe alongside her contemporaries such as Agnes Martin and Mark Rothko, featuring color studies characterized by minimalistic geometric forms, often displaying simple rectangles with little to no perspective. After viewing one of the patio door paintings, Martin expressed to O’Keeffe, “It was a joyous experience, and later, I gained a deeper understanding of the human response.”
The exhibition also incorporates immersive digital experiences that allow visitors to feel as if they are present in the locations O’Keeffe inhabited while creating her art, including the upper floors of the Shelton Hotel and her beloved patio in Abiquiu. These experiences encourage attendees to engage their senses and focus on the subtle details of the settings that inspired O’Keeffe as she sought to capture the intrinsic essence of each place.
Coleman is eager to shed light on O’Keeffe’s architectural works, which represent a facet of her career intertwined with a network of architects and designers with whom she shared profound personal and creative connections. He believes this story has long been hidden within the archives, waiting to be told.
