Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer Audio Exhibition
Georgia O’Keeffe (American, 1887–1986), Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), 1964–68, black-and-white Polaroid, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2006.6.107
14 3/4 × 11 3/4 × 1 3/8 in. (37.5 × 29.8 × 3.5 cm)
Verbal Description
Hello, my name is Eric Le Roy, the museum’s associate director of docent learning. I will be reading the verbal description of Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, photographed Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Dating from between 1964 and 1968, it is a black-and-white Polaroid. It is in the collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. The acquisition number is 2006.6.1070
In Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), the artist has filled the photo frame with a large floral bloom. This black-and-white photograph is portrait-oriented and measures 14 and three-quarter inches by 11 and three-quarter inches. Surrounded by large dark-colored rounded leaves, the light-colored ruffled-edged flower is positioned to allow the viewer to see into the center of the jimsonweed to view its pistils and stamens. A shadow casts across the center of the flower.
Label Text
Hello, my name is Eric Le Roy, the museum’s associate director of docent learning. I will be reading the label for Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, photographed Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). Dating from between 1964 and 1968, it is a black-and-white Polaroid. It is in the collection of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. The acquisition number is 2006.6.107
O’Keeffe’s photographs of jimsonweed flowers exemplify her interest in seasonal change. The trumpet-like flowers of the jimsonweed began blooming around her home in late summer and continued through the first
frost. The flowers obey both the cycle of the seasons and a shorter daily cycle, opening in the afternoon and closing with the rising sun the next day.
O’Keeffe’s many photographs of jimsonweed present the bright white flower in contrast to its dark surrounding leaves. Individually or in groups of blooms, jimsonweed signals O’Keeffe’s ongoing fascination with nature’s transformation in all its forms.