Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Apparently this was the first flower painting by O'Keeffe to be purchased by an art museum.

Description

O’Keeffe is best known for close-up flower subjects whose magnified forms fill the entire space of each canvas. Likely inspired by similar compositions in modern photography, these images are not only celebrations of natural forms, but also striking essays in abstract design. Although many critics interpreted O’Keeffe’s flower paintings as reflections of femininity in general and female sexuality in particular, the artist strongly opposed such readings. Throughout most of her career, she frequently attempted to persuade others to discuss her work without referring to her gender, writing on one occasion, “I have always been very annoyed at being referred to as a ‘woman artist’ rather than an ‘artist.’”

Inscriptions

Inscription

Stretcher: "White Flower -- 1929 / by Georgia O'Keeffe" (AS, graphite) Backing: "White Flower -- 1929 (oil) by Georgia O'Keeffe Price $8,000 To be returned to Geo. F. Of 126 W 57th NY NY ['To be returned...NY' twice]" (AS, AAP2, black ink)

Provenance

(Alfred Stieglitz, An American Place, New York, NY)

Citations

Georgia O'Keeffe. Naturalezas íntimas: Fundación Juan March, Madrid, 8 febrero - 2 junio 2002. Madrid: Arte y Ciencia Editorial, 2001. cat. no. 18, illus.

Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of an Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today at the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: [Printed by the Artcraft Printing Co.], 1937. no. 152

Adams, Henry. What's American about American art?: a gallery tour in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2008. Reproduced: fig. 6, p. 11

Exhibition history

New York, An American Place, Georgia O'Keeffe: 27 New Paintings, New Mexico, New York, Lake George, Etc., February 7-March 17, 1930, exh. checklist no. 9 as White Flower, N.M..

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Tenth Exhibition of Contemporary Paintings, June 6-July 7, 1930.

Buffalo, Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, The Art of Today: An Exhibition of Contemporary Pictures and Sculptures Arranged and Sponsored by the Women's Advisory Committee of the Albright Art Gallery, December 21, 1935-February 6, 1936.

Kohler Gallery, Dahland Fine Arts Center, Milton College, Milton WI, Georgia O'Keeffe, 12th Annual Festival of the Arts, April 20-May 10,1965, illus.

Flint, MI, Flint Institute of Arts, Art of the Twenties: American Painting at the Crossroads, November 16, 1978-January 21, 1979, pp. 55-56, no 41, illus. color p. 43.

Autumn Flower Show. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-December 1, 1935).

Exhibition of American Painting from 1860 Until Today. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-October 4, 1937).

The Modern Spirit: American Painting 1908-35. Gallery of the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (August 19-September 11, 1977); Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (September 28-November 20, 1977).

Art of the Twenties: American Painting at the Crossroads. Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI (organizer) (November 16, 1978-January 21, 1979).

Circa 1930. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 12-October 31, 1983).

The Georgia O'Keeffe Gift. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 4-November 15, 1987).

The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).

Georgia O'Keeffe: Naturalezas Intimas. Fundacion Juan March (organizer) (February 8-June 2, 2002).

Georgia O'Keeffe and the Southwestern Still Life. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN (October 30, 2014-February 15, 2015).

Georgia O'Keeffe, Photographer. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (October 17, 2021-January 17, 2022) https://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/georgia-okeeffe-photographer; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA (February 27-June 5, 2022); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (July 3-November 6, 2022); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (February 1-May 1, 2023).