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Kunsthalle of the Hypo Cultural Foundation announces Georgia O’Keeffe. Life and Works

The Kunsthalle of the Hypo Cultural Foundation presents Georgia O’Keeffe. Life and Works a comprehensive retrospective by the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) on view February 3 – May 13, 2012 .
Georgia O’Keeffe, Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II, 1930; Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; Gift of The Burnett Foundation; © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Around 75 paintings, sculptures and works on paper provide an overview of her oeuvre. Accompanied by 50 photographs, some by Alfred Stieglitz, Arnold Newman, Paul Strand and Ansel Adams, the artist comes to life as a person, together with the landscapes that so profoundly influenced her.

Surprisingly, the works of this pioneer of American art are rarely shown in Europe. As a result of the cooperation with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, this extraordinary exhibition has been made possible, which is due to run in three European countries. Following the first venue in Rome at the Fondazione Roma/Palazzo Cipolla, the retrospective will be presented in Munich, before moving on to the Helsinki City Art Museum.

Barbara Buhler Lynes, curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and publisher of the catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works, has prepared this retrospective over a number of years. Using incisive examples, her selection presents every stage of O’Keeffe’s work from her first abstractions dating from 1910 onwards, paintings of flowers and natural formations from the 1920s to the famous cityscapes of New York and the pictures of Lake George. One highlight of the show is the group of works depicting the vast landscapes of New Mexico, its distinctive architecture and still lifes with animal skulls, yet the exhibition also features her later large-scale works. The life and work of this extraordinary woman is vividly presented through a dialogue with photographs and films, as well as the artist’s working materials, here shown for the first time outside the O’Keeffe Museum.

In the 1920s, O’Keeffe revolutionised the tradition of flower painting with her large-format works of blossoms, presenting them close up as if viewed through a magnifying glass. Her paintings of buildings in New York, most of which date from the same period, are considered the epitome of American cityscapes. In 1929 she first began spending part of the year in Northern New Mexico. From then on, her work depicts motifs typical of the area: bones and rocks found in the desert, unique geological formations or the distinctive adobe architecture of the native American Indians. From 1949 until her death at the age of 98, she remained in this landscape. Even today, her paintings are the embodiment of the American West.

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most important and outstanding American woman painters of the 20th century. Her work serves to demonstrate in vivid fashion the detachment of American art from the traditions of Europe. However, her life also illustrates the emancipation of women artists and had a decisive impact on subsequent generations. A contributing factor to her unique position in American art history was her relationship with and later marriage to Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946). His dedication and his function as her gallerist promoted her career from the very beginning. As a photographer, Alfred Stieglitz held the young Georgia O’Keeffe in high esteem, both as an artist and as a model.

Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung
Theatinerstraße 8
80333 Munich
Germany
Tel. + 49 (0) 89 / 22 44 12
Fax + 49 (0) 89 / 29 16 09 81
www.hypo-kunsthalle.de
[email protected]
www.hypo-kunsthalle.de

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