Georgia O’Keeffe, reflecting on her life experiences, expressed, “I had never lived up so high before and was so excited that I began talking about trying to paint New York.” In 1924, the artist and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, moved into the Shelton Hotel, which was then the tallest residential skyscraper in the world. The breathtaking views from the hotel inspired O’Keeffe to explore the soaring geometries of midtown Manhattan. During a vibrant five-year period starting in 1925, she experimented with various media, scales, subjects, forms, and perspectives. Through these works, which she referred to as “my New Yorks,” O’Keeffe examined the dynamic potential of the cityscape, often juxtaposing it with nature to convey her personal perceptions of the urban environment.
This exhibition, currently on display at The High Museum in Atlanta, is the first to critically analyze O’Keeffe’s paintings, drawings, and pastels of urban landscapes while placing them in the broader context of her other compositions from the 1920s and early 1930s. It establishes these works as integral to her modernist exploration during that period, rather than as outliers or anomalies in her practice. The exhibition highlights the connection of O’Keeffe’s “New Yorks” to her abstractions and still lifes created at Lake George in upstate New York and her works made in the Southwest beginning in 1929. Understanding O’Keeffe’s “New Yorks” is essential to grasping how she evolved into the renowned artist we recognize today.
