: On March 26, the Amon Carter Museum will present "Stieglitz and
O'Keeffe at Lake George," a small exhibition consisting of two
paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) and nine photographs by
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), four of which are recent museum
acquisitions. This exhibition is on view through June 12.
Admission is free.
This installation focuses on a period during the 1920s when these
two towering figures of American art experienced their most
fruitful artistic collaboration. All of the Stieglitz photographs
and O'Keeffe's "White Birch," oil on canvas, 1925, are from the
Carter's permanent collection. O'Keeffe's "Storm Cloud, Lake
George," oil on canvas, 1923, is on loan from the Georgia
O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M.
The visual dialogue created by this group of artworks conveys the
couple's rich intellectual and emotional partnership. "The
confluence of their personal and professional lives at Lake
George held momentous ramifications for both Stieglitz and
O'Keeffe, resulting in some of their most affecting work," said
Jane Myers, senior curator of prints and drawings. "Displaying a
few key works by each artist yields surprising and provocative
insights into their artistic temperaments."
The artists' common vocabulary was informed by Lake George, a
summer resort nestled in the foothills of New York's Adirondack
Mountains. Beginning in 1918, at the commencement of their
relationship (they were married in 1924), and concluding in 1929,
when O'Keeffe began spending part of each year in New Mexico, the
couple traveled to Lake George annually to spend the summer and
fall seasons at the Stieglitz family estate. The close
relationship between painter and photographer transformed the
work of both artists as they probed their responses to the
region's natural beauty.
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), "Lake George Landscape," 1923,
gelatin silver print, 9 5/16 by 7 ½ inches. Amon Carter Museum,
Fort Worth, Texas.
Having already secured his legacy through his promotion of
photography and European modernism, Stieglitz absorbed O'Keeffe's
distinctive style, enabling him for the first time to merge his own
photographic work with innovations of the modernism he championed.
Twenty-five years Stieglitz's junior and just attaining her
artistic stride, the more introspective O'Keeffe took from the
language of photography such visual aesthetics as framing and depth
of field.
Eventually, personal tensions came between the two, but still
their seasons at Lake George were punctuated by extraordinary
glimmers of creative and emotional collaboration.
Public programs include a gallery talk on Thursday, April 21, at
6 pm. "Sharing Eden: Stieglitz and O'Keeffe at Lake George" will
be presented by John Rohrbach, senior curator of photographs, and
Jane Myers, senior curator of prints and drawings. Admission is
free.
Amon Carter Museum is at 3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard. For
information, 817-989-5066 or .
