Highly regarded American artist (1887–1986) best known for her sensuous, large-scale paintings of flowers, images from the natural world, and the American southwest. In 1917 O’Keeffe’s early work came to the attention of the famed photographer and gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, who gave the artist her first solo show and married her seven years later. By the mid-1920s O’Keeffe had taken a place among the first rank of American modernists—the only woman to do so. In 1929 she traveled to New Mexico for the first time, an event that played a pivotal role in the evolution of her work over the next several decades. Largely known in the 1920s for her dramatic depictions of the skyscrapers and “canyons” of New York City, O’Keeffe ultimately took her greatest inspiration from the landscape and architecture of New Mexico, which occupied a place of central importance in her art until failing eyesight brought her active career to an end in 1972. Four-decade archive of 27 ALS and 3 TLS, signed “Georgia O’Keeffe,” “Georgia,” or “G,” plus several related items sent by O’Keeffe to the Alexander Girard family of Santa Fe, various lengths and formats (including postcards and several letters on onionskin), circa 1958–1973. O’Keeffe met Alexander and Susan Girard and family in the mid-1950s and developed a friendship with them that lasted until her death at the age of 98. Alexander Girard (1907–1993) was a prominent designer whose projects included office interiors for the Ford Motor Company, such notable New York City restaurants as La Fonda del Sol in the Time-Life Building and L’Etoile at the Sherry Netherlands Hotel, and the corporate identity for Braniff Airlines. He is probably best remembered for the textiles he created for the now-classic furniture of mid-century design icons Charles and Ray Eames, which was produced by the Herman Miller company. Girard and his wife, Susan, were also prominent and voracious collectors of folk art; their collection is now housed at the International Folk Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas. The Girards lived in Santa Fe, 60 miles from O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, and visited with the artist on a regular basis; the Girards’ son, Marshall, made at least one boat trip with O’Keeffe on the Colorado River though Glen Canyon. The pervasively warm tone of O’Keeffe’s letters bears testament to a sincere regard for the family (especially Susan), and a number of the letters are to the Girards’ daughter, Sansi. The contents include invitations to visit and dine, news of travels, and even recipes and cooking tips (“If you want the garlic—we always do—just cut it fairly fine and stir it in”). Most intriguing, perhaps, are O’Keeffe’s vivid descriptions of the landscape and environment that figured so prominently in her work, and, in one, a direct reference to her well-known cloud paintings of the 1960s. Some excerpts follow. August 15, 1957 (ALS): “Thanks so much for thinking to send the ‘crème au chocolate’ recipe. I will be trying it one day.... I have received a very large volume from your brother—’The Wonder that Was India’ by Basham. As I read in spots before I begin at the beginning it looks most interesting....” April 18, 1958 (TLS): “Have you survived the long winter? We have, but the house has not been so fortunate. There seems to be mud everywhere but on the walls....” July 3, 1958 (ALS): “You never should do extra things for us. I would have been pleased to sleep on the mattress on the floor. Of course one of the things that makes your house so very special is the feeling of attention that you give to every little detail of it.... That I am so foolish about a dog I know is absurd. He is so oddly attached to us that I am sorry for him. He even embarrasses me a little. I feel not quite worthy of his attention.... I am old enough that many of my best friends have died and I so seldom come across any one new that is a real pleasure. I don’t even make much effort toward a new person. For me it takes so long to make a friend usually....” August 19, 1958 (ALS): “It is too hot to go rocking out in that white place now—but out here I get out into the hills almost every day—usually in the early morning or evening. In Abiquiu the mosquitoes are such a pest that one has no outdoor life....” October 23, 1958 (ALS): “I stay at the Ranch most of the time as I work better there—but I have come to Abiquiu quite often.... I sit ... here in Abiquiu with the valley all yellow as I write and I must say to you that it would be very fine if you could drive up this way very soon.... The trees are all yellow and it is very beautiful. The first wind will take the leaves....” December 10, 1959 (ALS): “Every day has been cloudy—looking like snow in the morning then clearing by afternoon. So today when the blue began to show I phoned.... Would like you to come to Abiquiu Xmas Eve.... The village is very pretty with candles and fires of the luminarios. I could offer you some supper—it will not be much—probably passali[?]. That is our Xmas eve dish here....” September 24, 1962 (ALS): “The clouds came very far down over the cliffs—and I hear the rain outside as I write. In an odd way I like it but I am sorry the sun did not shine for you here....” March 8, 1964 (ALS): “I went to Santa Fe to go to the dentist. In my hand I had a loaf of bread and a jar of raspberry jelly thinking I might go to you for lunch. You were not home. I was sad....” August 4, 1964 (ALS): “When I measured off the 18 ft. in the garage as the width of that hall the proportion makes it look more like a room than a hall. I had remembered it more narrow as a passageway....” January 17, 1966 (ALS on a handmade greeting card covered with cloth bearing the printed image of one of O’Keeffe’s renowned “Cloud” paintings): “With this horn blowing angel [the image on the stamp] I send you greetings for 66—on the opposite of my clouds....” December 19, 1972 (TLS on a postcard bearing an image of O’Keeffe’s Dark Mesa and Pink Sky): “In time, I hope you’ll have time to rock! [i.e., go rock climbing]....” Undated (1966[?] ALS on a postcard bearing Syrian postage and an image of the Pyramids of Giza): “Here I am but I like our world better in spite of seeing how hard people worked long ago....” Undated (ALS on letterhead from a hotel in Tokyo): “I find it rather wonderful here—in a strange way—it is all so like the pictures—so like the paintings, etc....” Undated (ALS): “Before you go on with plans for your Peru etc. trip—go and have your heart examined. Don’t laugh and not do it—because if your heart is not good you may not be able to take those quick changes in altitude safely....” Many of the letters include envelopes addressed in O’Keeffe’s hand; one includes a brief handwritten message signed “G.” The letters are accompanied by several other items of interest: •Three invitations to events related to O’Keeffe (including the 1970 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art), and one for an exhibition of works by Alfred Stieglitz. •Approximately 20 original (probably unpublished) snapshots, most evidently taken by the Girards. The images include O’Keeffe at her Ghost Ranch home with the Girards and an unidentified woman in a sari, a “still life” of the skulls and antlers which featured so prominently in the artist’s work, O’Keeffe at a 1968 event in San Antonio, O’Keeffe at an unknown reception, and more. One of the photos is a souvenir image of O’Keeffe and Susan Girard deplaning in Mexico City in 1970. •An original 10 x 8 photo of an older O’Keeffe with a purse tucked in her arm, taken by famed designer Charles Eames (an associate of Alexander Girard; see above) and bearing his studio backstamp. •A 1959 TLS from a Foreign Service agent to Thomas Needham, describing a visit with O’Keeffe in India and specifically mentioning her lack of interest in some local art she was shown. In part: “The only comment she made in regard to any of the embellishments in our flat was that she thought that a map which Pan American had given to us, and which we had hanging on a veranda, ‘looked very nice there’....” Apart from typical mild handling wear, wrinkling, and a few blots and brushes, the items are generally clean, bright, and in fine to very fine condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA..
