Okeeffe Georgia, Signed (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. Signed by editor - Sarah Greenough. Signed by Author(s).

Condition: Fine. ARTIST'S PROOF, SIGNED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER BUDNIK. A wonderful, evocative photograph of O'Keeffe at 87 years old, taken at her beloved Ghost Ranch, just north of Abiquiú, New Mexico. By March 1975, when this photograph was taken, O'Keeffe had begun to explore pottery as her chief artistic medium. The photographer Budnik powerfully foregrounds the hands that shaped the clay, reminding us of O'Keeffe's relentless pursuit of art and creativity. At an age where most famous people are photographed looking wise or contemplative, it's refreshing to see Budnik capturing the joy of O'Keeffe in her later stage of life. The photographer Dan Budnik, whose career ranged from artist portraiture to major documentary work on the Civil Rights Movement, brought to his sitters an unusual mixture of intimacy and formal rigor. His 1975 photographs of O'Keeffe at Ghost Ranch are among the most compelling visual records her in the last years of her life. Gelatin silver print, artist's proof (noted "AP" by Budnik at bottom left), from an unspecified edition; printed later. Not examined out of frame. Size: 16 x 10.5 in; framed to an overall size of approx. 26 x 23 in. Fine condition.

Condition: Very Good. first edition. EXHIBITION PROGRAM FOR O'KEEFFE'S FIRST MAJOR ART SHOW, SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY O'KEEFFE. Inscribed by O'Keeffe on cover in pencil: "I am sorry you cant come / Hope all is well with you / Sincerely / Georgia O'Keeffe.". O'Keeffe's first major show opening at Anderson Galleries in New York on January 29, 1923 was a sensation. "The reviews were excellent. Henry McBride pleased O'Keeffe 'immensely' when his piece for the New York Herald stated that in the show 'there is a great deal of clear, precise, unworried painting,' which Stieglitz was calling 'color music.' The Sun's critic, Alan Burroughs, marveled that in the concurrent exhibition of still lifes and flower pieces by the likes of Cézanne, Manet, Monet, and Renoir at Durand-Ruel, 'one sees no canvases with the intensity of Miss O'Keeffe's.'" "As many as five hundred people a day thronged the galleries. Although many went out of curiosity aroused by Stieglitz's photographs of the artist, once there they mostly liked what they saw. O'Keeffe's work was sensuous, easily understandable, greatly appealing, often decorative, and much of it seemed quite overtly sexual in a fashionably liberated way. Some twenty paintings were sold, for a total of about $3,000" (Whelan). There was no catalog for the show - for as Stieglitz wrote explicitly on the back page of the program, "There is no catalogue. The pictures have no titles, but are numbered and dated" so this program is the only significant printed documentation of the exhibition. And significant it is, for it opens with an artist's statement by O'Keeffe that is one of the most important and revealing things she ever wrote. She opens with a blunt, almost anti-romantic autobiography: she "grew up pretty much as everybody else grows up," and then describes a turning point "one day seven years ago" when she realized she couldn't keep living by other people's rules "I can't live where I want to I can't even say what I want to." She identifies painting as "the only thing I could do that didn't concern anybody but myself" and discovered that she could say things "with color and shapes" that she couldn't say any other way "things that I had no words for." She almost cheekily anticipates some criticism ("Some of the wise men say it is not painting, some of them say it is. Art or not Art they disagree. Some of them do not care.") before shifting her narrative to credit Stieglitz not only for this exhibition, but for her famous introduction to the art world when Stieglitz exhibited the drawings shown to him by O'Keeffe's friend Anita Pollitzer years earlier. In a bluntly forthright final paragraph she expresses her ambivalence, but also her need to have her paintings shown: "I say that I do not want to have this exhibition because, among other reasons, there are so many exhibitions that it seems ridiculous for me to add to the mess, but I guess I'm lying. I probably do want to see my things hang on a wall as other things hang so as to be able to place them in my mind in relation to other things I have seen done. And I presume, if I must be honest, that I am also interested in what anybody else had to say about them and also in what they don't say because that means something to me too." New York: The Anderson Galleries, 1923. 6.25x9.5 inches. Two sheets, making eight pages when folded (as issued). With a printed extract on O'Keeffe by Marsden Hartley, headed: "Extract from 'Some Women Painters' in 'Adventures in the Arts' by Marsden Hartley." on pages 5-6. Mailing folds, some general light soiling. Housed in custom presentation folder. RARE: We are not aware of another signed copy that has been on the market. References: Whelan, Richard. Alfred Stieglitz: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1995, pp. 437-9.

Condition: Fine. first edition. GEORGIA O'KEEFFE AS ART DEALER FOR HER OWN WORK: A fascinating correspondence between O'Keeffe and disgraced art dealer Andrew Crispo, revealing O'Keeffe's reluctance to sell her paintings. On September 27, 1969, the 24-year-old art dealer Andrew Crispo (who later became infamous through his connection with the "Death Mask Murder" case), visited O'Keeffe at her home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. While there, Crispo perhaps trying to make a big splash in the art world negotiated with O'Keeffe to purchase three of her paintings: "Lake George Blue" for $6000; "White Birches" for $40,000; "Mule's Skull and Pink Poinsetta" for $50,000. The first letter in the correspondence, dated September 29, is from O'Keeffe to Crispo, outlining the terms for the sale of "Lake George Blue" for $6000. This is no simple sale, however Crispo wants payment terms and O'Keeffe outlines them here: $100 (paid already), $1900 due in January 1970; $2000 in January, 1971; $2000 in January 1972. The most interesting part of the letter, however, is O'Keeffe reluctance to let go of her work. She proposes a deal where she has the right of first refusal to buy it back from Crispo for $6000 should he wish to sell it to anyone. She originally wanted no time limit on this, but Crispo successfully negotiated a window (reflected in a "Note" at the bottom of the letter) of four years for O'Keeffe's right of first refusal. This letter, signed by both O'Keeffe and Crispo, retains its original envelope, with September 30, 1969 postmark. The negotiations get more complicated when considering two significantly more expensive O'Keeffe paintings. In an October 2, 1969, letter from Crispo (included here), he notes that he gave her deposits ($100 each) on the two paintings and understood the checks and their verbal agreement bound her to sell the painting "White Birches" for $40,000 and "Skull and Poinsettas" (later renamed "Mule's Skull and Pink Poinsetta") for $50,000. O'Keeffe was clearly getting uncomfortable with the sale of these paintings; hence Crispo's insistence that the deal had been made. This hesitancy comes to the fore in the final letter (signed by O'Keeffe) in the collection. Dated December 11, 1969, the letter after confirming the details of the "Lake George" sale, reads in part: "You may recall that when we first met I told you that I did not wish to sell any paintings. As I have thought things over, it seems best to leave things that way. I would rather keep the two paintings than send them to you." She then notes that she is returning his two checks for $100 (deposits on the paintings) and the two torn checks are included with this letter (along with the original envelope). O'Keeffe at the time of this letter was 82 years old and it is surprising that she turned down a substantial amount of money for the two paintings. (The $90,000 for the two paintings is approximately $760,000 in today's dollars.) Perhaps she really couldn't bear to let them go, or perhaps she sensed something unsavory about Andrew Crispo. In 1969, Crispo had been working at New York City's ACA Galleries and was likely laying the foundation for his namesake gallery,which he opened a few years later, but in the 1980s and 90s Crispo became notorious for his involvement in the gruesome "Death Mask Murder" case and later served time in prison for extortion. Over time, all three paintings passed through various private collections. "Lake George - Blue", the only painting Crispo successfully purchased from O'Keeffe, remains in a private collection. "White Birches" is now housed at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, while "Mule's Skull with Pink Poinsetta" is part of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In total this archive includes two O'Keeffe typed letters signed, one unsigned O'Keeffe typed letter, and one Andrew Crispo typed letter signed with a duplicate retained copy, a retained copy of a Crispo letter (Dec. 5), two torn.

First edition, number 185 of 230 copies signed by the artist from a total edition of 250. O'Keeffe personally selected ten of her drawings, two of which are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to represent the range and variety of her work in this medium. To some of the drawings she made changes, enhancing the print. Folio. With 10 reproduced drawings printed in 300-line screen offset lithography at the Meriden Gravure Co., I-IX are printed on Rives BFK paper and X on Arches Cover paper. Sheet sizes: 63.3 x 48.5 cm. Eight-page booklet, together with 10 loose prints in separate folders. All housed in the publisher's white cloth clamshell box. All in fine condition.

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. A 3-page handwritten letter in brown ink in O'Keeffe's hand. Written on Eaton's Corrasable Bond, each sheet has been folded in thirds. With light chipping and tears along the margins, not affecting the text. Very clearly written with an almost artistic lyricism of the lines. Craven Abiquiu, N.M. 7/15/525-Rue des Beaux ArtsParis VIFranceDear Mr. Craven: Your letter seems to be lost at the moment, but I find the envelope and remember that I should have answered the letter I cannot send an exhibition to you. I live in this country and I do not want to go to the city to get things in order for it as I would have to I would rather work and live my country life. I know too much about showing paintings in this country to want to show them in another. I am sorrythank you for thinking of it. I have shown here a great deal as you probably knowbut it was because Stieglitz was interested It wasn t because my vanity demandor needed it. Sincerely Georgia O KeefeOn another sheet of paper she has written: Art GreeneCanyon tours IncNahweapP.O. Box 1356Page, Arizona Quite a long address! Best to you G. My doctor can not go I am sorry to say. Painter Georgia O Keeffe has been called the Mother of American Modernism , and certainly, her paintingsare recognized worldwide. Her body of work spans much more than the detailed flowers and desert scenes of the American southwest that she has become known for. In her 98 years on earth, she was a prolific artist and a superstar in the art community. In her personal life, however, O Keeffe s artistic passion often overshadowed her relationships and she preferred to hide in the solitude of her paints. In the early 1900s, Georgia O Keeffe studied art at both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York, but she found the instructions to be restricting. Instead of painting exact replicates of the scenes she saw, she wanted to paint her own interpretation of them, much to the displeasure of her teachers. She left school and taught for several years while refining and perfecting her own artistic style. While chair of the art department at West Texas State Normal College, she painted a series of watercolors of thesunrises and sunsetsin a nearby canyon. The vivid colors and shapes in her paintings were unique and caught the attention of a New York gallery owner and art promoter, Alfred Stieglitz. When Alfred Stieglitz invited to O Keeffe to exhibit her work at his gallery, he was more than twenty years older than the young artist and married. Stieglitz was inspired by O Keeffe, as a person and as an artist. A well-known photographer, Stieglitz asked O Keeffe to pose for him. She appeared in over 300 nude photos taken by Stieglitz and the images created a stir of controversy in the New York art community of the time. The relationship progresses and O Keeffe became Stieglitz s mistress for a number of years. When he finally divorced his wife, he and O Keeffe married, but the marriage was a rocky one from the start. Although the passion and excitement of their affair faded after they married, O Keeffe was still distraught upon learning that her husband was having an affair with photographer and art advocate, Dorothy Norman. O Keeffe sought treatment for depression and, rather than stand witness to her husband s affair, she began spending time in New Mexico where she was inspired by the brilliant landscape.The artist permanently moved to the Southwest, setting up a studio at Ghost Ranch. In addition to painting the countryside, O Keeffe painted her signature flowers. Art critics still to this day interpret her flower paintings to be depictions of the female anatomywhich created quite a stir at the time. But O Keeffe claims that her intention was merely to paint the supreme beauty of the flower and those suggestions that she was hiding images of genitalia in her art were wrong. She coyly commented that people were seeing what they wanted to see in her art. The American Mod.