: A selection of the Milwaukee Art Museum's Georgia O'Keeffe
paintings will be permanently installed in the Bradley Galleries
beginning September 4.
With a total of 22 works in the collection, the Milwaukee Art
Museum is a leading repository for O'Keeffe's work, the fourth
largest of its kind of any museum in the United States and the
only dedicated O'Keeffe Gallery east of Santa Fe. The
installation coincides with the return of many of the works from
the critically acclaimed "O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's
Collection" exhibition tour organized by the Milwaukee Art
Museum.
"The Milwaukee Art Museum is pleased to have the O'Keeffe
paintings back from such a successful exhibition tour and on view
together for the enjoyment of visitors," said David Gordon, MAM
director and CEO. "Having all of the paintings on view in the
same gallery for the first time really allows people to see the
strength and depth of our O'Keeffe collection."
Most of the museum's first 11 O'Keeffes were gifts of Mrs Harry
Lynde Bradley. The artist graciously attended the 1975 opening of
the museum's major addition, which houses the Bradley collection.
During the late 1990s, the museum received a gift of ten
additional O'Keeffe works from the Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation
and Jane Bradley Pettit, who continued and expanded her mother's
legacy. With this acquisition and one additional work from the
Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation, the number of O'Keeffe works in the
Milwaukee Art Museum's Collection is now at 22. Key works on view
include "Grey and Brown Leaves," 1929; "Pelvis with Blue (Pelvis
I)," 1944; and "Poppies," 1950.
O'Keeffe's tie to Wisconsin makes the new installation even more
meaningful to the Milwaukee Art Museum and its visitors. Born in
Spring Green, Wis., O'Keeffe spent her formative years in the
state taking drawing lessons and attending high school in
Madison. After her family moved to Virginia, O'Keeffe attended
school at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Student's
League. Following a stint of teaching art in public schools in
Amarillo, Texas, O'Keeffe returned to New York City to study at
Teacher's College, Columbia University.
At the time of her death in 1986 at the age of 98, O'Keeffe owned
more than half of her overall output: approximately 400 works in
oil, charcoal, pastel, pencil and watercolor as well as more than
700 sketches in various mediums. She designated in her will the
distribution of 52 of the works in her collection to eight
American museums in Chicago, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
With a history dating back to 1888, the Milwaukee Art Museum's
primary strengths are in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century
American and European art, contemporary art, American decorative
arts, Old Master works and folk and self-taught art.
The museum is in downtown Milwaukee, along the shore of Lake
Michigan at 700 North Art Museum Drive. The museum is open seven
days a week from 10 am to 5 pm, except for Thursdays when the
museum stays open until 8 pm. For information, 414-224-3200.
