Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The morning glory rests against a black petunia, seen partially at lower right.

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 nature, 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

Verso: "G OKeeffe -- 1926" (white paint)

Citations

Corn, Wanda M., and Georgia O'Keeffe. Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern. 2017. Referenced: p. 75, Reproduced: fig/ 64, p. 76

Bernard, Sophie. Georgia O'Keeffe et ses amis photographes. Paris: Somogy; Grenoble: Musée de Grenoble, 2015. p. 53 Reproduced: P. 53, fug. 34

Friedman, Martin. The Precisionist View in American Art: November 13 Through December 25, 1960: an Exhibition. Minneapolis, MN: Walker Art Center, 1960. Mentioned: p. 57

Haskell, Barbara and Sasha Nicholas. Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009. Reproduced: p. 111, pl. 101

Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Reproduced: p. 119, no. 68; p. 70

de Chassey, Eric. Made in USA: l'art américain, 1908-1947. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001. Reproduced: p. 133

Greenough, Sarah. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Washington, D.C.; Boston, MA: National Gallery of Art; Bulfinch Press, 2000. Reproduced: p. 311, pl. 106; Mentioned: p. 535

Hutton Turner, Elizabeth, and Marjorie P. Balge-Crozier. Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things. Washington, D.C.: Phillips Collection, 1999. Reproduced: p. 85, pl. 31; Mentioned: p. 150

Goodrich, Lloyd, and Doris Bry. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, NY: Published for the Whitney Museum of American Art by Praeger, 1970. Mentioned: pp. 18-19

Exhibition history

New York, The Intimate Gallery, Georgia O'Keeffe Paintings 1926 (11 January-27 February 1927) as Black Petunia & White Morning-Glory III; see Lynes (1999) pp. 320, 1150; however, seen Appendix III, volume 2 of Lynes, pp. 1116-1117.

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Contemporary Painting in the United States: A Special Exhibition (19-27 April 1941), Divided into three separate exhibitions and circulated in "the art centers of the other American republics" under the auspices of the office of Nelson A. Rockefeller, the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics, May-December, no. 125 ?, see Lynes (1999), pp. 320, 1152; catalogue notes that this painting was lent by The Whitney Museum of American Art; although it is possible that Steiglitz lent the work to the exhibition through the Whitney, even Lynes (who includes a question mark after this entry-see Lynes 330) seems uncertain.

Louisville, Ky., J. B. Speed Memorial Museum, (13 February-5 March 1944)

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Georgia O'Keeffe (14 May-25 August 1946) cat. no. 21 as White Morning Glory with Black.

Cleveland, The Cleveland Institute of Music, for indefinite loan beginning 4 January 1963.

January Show. Kingwood Center Gardens, Mansfield, OH (organizer) (January 11-31, 1959).

The Precisionist View in American Art. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (November 13-December 25, 1960); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (January 24-February 28, 1961); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (March 21-April 23, 1961); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (May 17-June 18, 1961); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (July 2-August 6, 1961).

Four Centuries of American Art. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN (organizer) (co-organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 19, 1964).

Georgia O'Keeffe: An Exhibition of the work of the artist from 1915-1966. Amon Carter Museum (organizer) (March 17-May 8, 1966).

First Indian Triennale of World Art. Indian National Academy of Art, New Delhi, India (organizer) (February 10-March 30, 1968).

Works from the Contemporary Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (July 1-October 15, 1969).

Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective Exhibition. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (March 15-April 30, 1971).

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

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

Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things. The Phillips Collection (organizer) (April 24-July 18, 1999); Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (August 14-October 10, 1999); The Dallas Museum of Art (October 30, 1999-January 30, 2000); Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor (February 19-May 14, 2000).

Modern Art in America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (January 28-April 22, 2001).

Made in U.S.A., l'art américain, 1908-1943, entre nationalisme et internationalisme [FRAME]. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux (organizer) (October 5-December 31, 2001); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes (January 17-March 31, 2002); Musée Fabre (April 10-June 25, 2002).

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. MOCA Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Georgia O'Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle. High Museum of Art (organizer) (February 9-May 4, 2008).

Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction. Whitney Museum of American Art (organizer) (September 17, 2009-January 17, 2010).

Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 21, 2018-March 3, 2019); Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS (March 29-June 23, 2019); Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV (July 18-October 20, 2019); Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL (November 21, 2019-February 9, 2020).