Engl Library & Archive: Artist Materials of Georgia O'Keeffe: Artist Materials

Georgia O'Keeffe's Artist Materials

Much of what is known about Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic practice is learned from studying her artist materials. Artist materials in the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum collections include paintbrushes, paints, and other art making tools as well as canvases and supports, all owned or used by Georgia O’Keeffe. Preserved by the artist, these items provide clues into O’Keeffe’s artistic process.

Interior view of Georgia O'Keeffe's studio in Ghost Ranch, gesso canvas on easel, paint brushes on table, painting of tree branch on wall and the actual tree branch standing like a sculpture on a table adjacent to the easel. — Todd Webb. O'Keeffe Studio at Ghost Ranch, 1963. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation. © Todd Webb Archive.

Recommended Resources

Books

Georgia O'Keeffe by Ruiz del Árbol, Marta (curator), Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (host institution)
Call Number: ND237.O5 A4 2021
ISBN: 9788417173494
Publication Date: 2021
This catalog gives an account of the first retrospective in Spain of Georgia O’Keeffe. Through a selection of approximately 80 works, it immerses us in the pictorial universe of this artist.
See essays: An intentional language : the studio materials and methods of Georgia O'Keeffe, 1915-1975 / by Dale Kronkright
A study of Georgia O'Keeffe's painting technique through the works in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections / by Marta Palao, Andrés Sánchez Ledesma and Susana Pérez
Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction by Barbara Haskell (Editor); Contributions by Barbara Buhler Lynes, Sasha Nicholas, Bruce Robertson, Elizabeth Hutton Turner
Call Number: N6537.O39 A4 2009
ISBN: 9780300148176
Publication Date: 2009
In addition to rethinking O'Keeffe’s role in the development of a uniquely American abstract style, this book chronicles the shifts and changes in subject matter and style over the span of her long career. It adds significant new insight into her life, reproducing excerpts of previously sealed letters written by O'Keeffe to photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. These previously unpublished letters, along with other primary documents referenced by the authors, offer an intimate glimpse into her creative method and intentions as an artist.
Georgia O'Keeffe: catalogue raisonne by Barbara Buhler Lynes
Call Number: N6537.O39 A4 1999
ISBN: 9780300081763
Publication Date: 1999
The most comprehensive record of O’Keeffe’s work by former Georgia O’Keeffe Museum curator, Barbara Buhler Lynes. Includes over 2000 of O’Keeffe’s works arranged chronologically, an extensive bibliography, chronology, and exhibition history complete with early installation photographs. A key reference.
Georgia O'Keeffe: color and conservation by René Paul Barilleaux (Editor); Sarah Whitaker Peters (Editor); René Paul Barilleaux (Editor)
Call Number: N6537.O39 A4 2006
ISBN: 1887422110
Publication Date: 2006
This book, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name, centers on Georgia O'Keeffe's efforts to ensure proper conservation of the fragile surfaces of her paintings of bones, flowers, and landscapes. Based on previously unpublished correspondence between O'Keeffe and distinguished conservator Caroline Keck, this catalogue from the Mississippi Museum of Art presents entirely new information about the relationship between O'Keeffe's aesthetic vision and her distinctive handling of paint and pastel.

Online Resources

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza: ConectaThyssen / Thyssen Digital Publications / Georgia O'Keeffe
In connection with the temporary exhibition "Georgia O’Keeffe", the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza created an interactive magazine so visitors and others can immerse themselves in O'Keeffe’s pictorial universe. See chapter 9.
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza: #Thyssenmultimedia / Georgia O’Keeffe's colours
Winsor & Newton, a manufacturing company specializing in painting materials of the highest quality, supported the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza's exhibition "Georgia O’Keeffe" with a loan of materials needed to reconstruct O'Keeffe's creative process, as shown in the last room of the exhibition. In this framework, they show us the artist's color palette and her use of materials. With Marta Ruiz del Árbol, exhibition curator; Clara Marcellán, curator of modern painting; and Dale Kronkright, head of conservation, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza: Georgia O'Keeffe in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collections
To mark the first Georgia O’Keeffe retrospective in Spain, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza decided to carry out research on the five paintings belonging to its collections, dated between 1921 and 1957, in order to examine the artist’s technique in depth. Some of the results of this study are shared in text and video on this page. Contents of page, including video, also available in Spanish: https://www.museothyssen.org/en/restoration/georgia-okeeffe.

Related Exhibitions

Georgia O'Keeffe's Artistic Practice, Selections from the Library and Archive, Michaels S. Engl Family Foundation Library and Archive, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, December 2015 - April 2016,

This exhibition featured selections from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s archives and library special collections relating to Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic process. See checklist below.

Exhibition Checklist, Georgia O'Keeffe's Artistic Practice, Selections from the Library and Archive

O’Keeffiana, Art and Art Materials, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, September 24, 2010 - May 8, 2011

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Collections

Archive Collections

Artisan / Santa Fe Check (MS.7)
Photocopy of a framed and signed check by Georgia O'Keeffe dated May 1, 1978 and made out to Artisan / Santa Fe. Artisan is an art supply store based out of Santa Fe, NM since 1975.
Caroline Keck Papers (MS.30)
A well-respected art conservator, Caroline Keck served as Georgia O'Keeffe's personal art conservator for almost forty years. The collection relates to the professional relationship between Georgia O'Keeffe and Caroline Keck, and more specifically to the conservation treatments of O'Keeffe's paintings owned by O'Keeffe, and in some cases, other institutions or private individuals.
Georgia O'Keeffe / Alfred Stieglitz Papers (MS.61)
The Georgia O'Keeffe / Alfred Stieglitz Papers includes a wide variety of personal documents, providing unique insight into O'Keeffe and Stieglitz's personal finances, business practices, hobbies and interests, and connections to other artists. See 'Enclosures' subseries.
Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation Correspondence Photocopies (MS.5)
This collection includes photocopies of Georgia O'Keeffe's original papers, the majority of which was given by The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation to Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The 'About O'Keeffe and Her Work' subseries documents O'Keeffe's life and work through a selection of personal documents, biographical writings and interviews, conservation and appraisal reports, and working documents on topics of interest.
Georgia O'Keeffe Oral History Project (MS.32)
Use this guide to learn more about the collection and its contents. This collection consists of interviews with Georgia O'Keeffe's surviving relatives, colleagues, friends, and employees as well as supporting project documentation. The bulk of the materials date from 2000 to 2003 and include audiocassette recordings, typed transcripts, photographs, and research and project records.
Georgia O'Keeffe Paper Survey Research (MS.59)
This collection consists of paper survey research conducted by Barbara Buhler Lynes with Judith Walsh during the course of creating the catalogue raisonné on Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork.

Collections Online

Artist Materials in the GOKM Collections Online
Artist Materials includes paintbrushes, paints, and other art making tools as well as canvases and supports, all owned or used by Georgia O’Keeffe. Preserved by the artist, these items provide clues into O’Keeffe’s artistic process through hundreds of her paintbrushes specifically trimmed to accommodate her distinct style and an array of her easels, paints, pastels, and charcoal.

Selected items from Georgia O'Keeffe's Personal Libraries

The artist's handbook of materials and techniques by Ralph Mayer
Call Number: 01:04-42
Publication Date: 1940
A compendium of painting : compendium à l'usage des artistes peintres et des amateurs de tableaux by Jacques Blockx
Call Number: F-15:02-04
Publication Date: 1910
Exposition of painting conservation : materials--methods--machines by Caroline Keck, Brooklyn Museum
Call Number: 10:01-09
Publication Date: 1962
The materials of the artist and their use in painting : with notes on the techniques of the old masters by Max Doerner, translated by Eugen Neuhaus
Call Number: ND1260 .D62 1934
Publication Date: 1934
The materials of the artist and their use in painting : with notes on the techniques of the old masters by Max Doerner, translated by Eugen Neuhaus
Call Number: 10:01-03
Publication Date: 1949

Guide to Georgia O'Keeffe's Personal Libraries
Search O'Keeffe's Personal Libraries to find more books on art materials and process collected by O'Keeffe.

Artist Materials of Georgia O'Keeffe

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