Georgia O'Keeffeone of the most important artists of the 20th century, she created some of the most iconic paintings. Now the Museum of Modern Art in New York will open a new exhibition about his drawings. “Georgia O'Keeffe: To See Takes Time” will bring together over 120 rarely seen paper works that demonstrate how the artist used charcoal, watercolor, pastel and graphite to revisit in organic forms. It will be the museum's first exhibition to explore this O'Keeffe process and the first exhibition dedicated to the artist at MoMA since 1946. “O'Keeffe is a well-loved and not often sufficiently understood artist. I included a charcoal drawing of O'Keeffe's in our [2020] show 'Degree Zero,' and people were shocked to learn it was hers. It did not correspond to their expectation of this artist's work”, said Samantha Friedman, curator of the exhibition, to ARTnews.
Georgia O'Keeffe, the painter of lush close-up flowers and rugged mountains, began her career drawing with charcoal. In 1915, while working as an art teacher, she began creating drawings on various sheets of paper. The result suggested ripples of water, smoke or primordial soup, whichGeorgia O'Keeffedubbed the series "Specials". During the 1930s, O'Keeffe became known for her paintings of the natural world, most of which capture static extremes such as blooming flowers or weather-whitened animal skulls. The transition from paper to canvas did not happen in an instant, with the artist describing the joyful “recklessness” of paper in relation to canvas, where consequences carry weight. Undoubtedly, paper was an essential means to develop his motives and the essence of his themes.
“Georgia O'Keeffe: To See Takes Time” is scheduled to take place from April 9 to August 12, 2023, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
