Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer Audio Exhibition
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986), Road from Abiquiú, 1959–66, gelatin silver print, Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, 2006.6.1372
14 3/4 × 17 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (37.5 × 45.1 × 3.2 cm)
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986), Road out Bedroom Window, probably 1957, gelatin silver print, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York , Anonymous Gift, 1977, 1977.657.3
17 1/2 × 14 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (44.5 × 36.8 × 3.2 cm)
Verbal Description
Hello, my name is Eric Le Roy, the museum’s associate director of docent learning. I will be reading the verbal descriptions of Road from Abiquiú and Road out Bedroom Window in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, likely created Road from Abiquiú between 1959 and 1966 and Road out Bedroom Window in 1957. These gelatin silver prints are in the collections of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Road out Bedroom Window was an Anonymous Gift to the MET in 1977. The acquisition numbers are 2006.6.1372 and 1977.657.3
Road from Abiquiú and Road out Bedroom Window hang together in this gallery. While they are both black-and-white photos depicting a similar scene, a road curving at the base of a large foliage-covered mesa, each captures the view from a slightly different vantage point and with a different camera orientation.
In Road from Abiquiú, the image is landscape-oriented and measures 14 and three-quarter inches by 17 and three-quarter inches. This horizontal view allows the artist to include more of the scene surrounding the curving road. Included with the large mesa in the background are a series of smaller tree-covered hills sloping into the foreground. A small structure is visible in the midground on the right side of the photo.
Road out Bedroom Window, portrait-oriented and measuring 17 and one-half inches by 14 and one-half inches, also captures the curve of the road from a different perspective. Still clear in the background and to the right is the large mesa. Due to the vertical orientation, the immense expanse of the scene is gone. The road stretches from the lower left corner of the frame in a sharp diagonal across the picture, curving at the top to follow the mesa’s base. Trees line the left side of the road in the midground of the photo.
Label Text
Hello, my name is Eric Le Roy, the museum’s associate director of docent learning. I will be reading the label for Road from Abiquiú in Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer.
Georgia O’Keeffe, an American artist who lived from 1887 to 1986, likely created Road from Abiquiú between 1959 and 1966 and Road out Bedroom Window in 1957. These gelatin silver prints are in the collections of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Road out Bedroom Window was an Anonymous Gift to the MET in 1977. The acquisition numbers are 2006.6.1372 and 1977.657.3
Several extant photographs of the mesa and road outside O’Keeffe’s east window track the view at different times of the year. In addition to overtly reframing the scene, the artist allowed nature’s changes to alter the relationships of form and light within the composition. The strong summer sun cast hard shadows onto the silvery road in one photograph, while in another, the diffuse light of spring highlights the new growth of the thin foliage.