Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer Audio Exhibition
Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986), Ladder against Wall, 1961, gelatin silver print, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, 2006.6.1425
14 3/4 × 11 3/4 × 1 3/8 in. (37.5 × 29.8 × 3.5 cm)
Verbal Description
Hello, my name is Emily Holtrop, the museum’s director of learning & interpretation. I will be reading the verbal description of Ladder against Wall in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, created Ladder against Wall in 1961. It is a gelatin silver print. It is in the collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. The acquisition number is 2006.6.1425
Ladder against Wall is a portrait-oriented black-and-white photograph. It measures 14 and three-quarter inches by 11 and three-quarter inches. In the image, a wooden ladder leans against a light-colored adobe wall, reaching the top of the structure. It encompasses the right side of the picture. To the left of the ladder is a darkened rectangular entry. The wall and the recess are in shadow, while the sandy ground in the foreground is bathed in light. A cloudy sky stretches above the top of the wall.
Label Text
Hello, my name is Emily Holtrop, the museum’s director of learning & interpretation. I will be reading the label for Ladder against Wall in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, created Ladder against Wall in 1961. It is a gelatin silver print. It is in the collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. The acquisition number is 2006.6.1425
O’Keeffe often claimed that the dark salita door—the door leading into her sitting room— was the reason she purchased her Abiquiú home in 1945. She frequently depicted the door in her work, producing 23 paintings and drawings between 1946 and 1960. "It’s a curse—the way I feel I must continually go on with that door," she noted. Beginning in 1956, O’Keeffe also began to capture her deep passion for her home in black-and-white photographs, including many images of the salita door.