I thought I knew everything about Georgia O’Keeffe: her public school teaching days in Texas, her friend Anita Pollitzer shows her drawings to Alfred Stieglitz, O’Keeffe appears at Stieglitz’s New York gallery, he says, “At last, a woman on paper,” they marry, she goes alone to New Mexico, she becomes an American icon.
I never thought about what her houses looked like inside, because she seemed so private. But Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern claims she was a leader both in Modern clothing and in home décor. Now that I’ve read the book I’d say that her home in Abiquiu, New Mexico, does look circa 1965. A definition:
Modern style furnishings and décor celebrate natural materials, neutral or earthy colors, and the elimination of unnecessary detailing.
This certainly fits her famous patio door, shown below in a painting.
“Georgia O’Keeffe has never allowed her life to be one thing and her painting another,” Frances O’Brien says in the book. “To her, art is life.”
Her poses for the camera were as studied as a painting, “clean, simple and integrated.” She created her own identity with “extraordinary determination to be in charge of how the world understood her identity and her values.”
Her clothes have been cataloged, conserved and stored at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. There are about 1500 objects, including 267 articles of her clothing and accessories.
She managed to make contrivance appear nonchalance. The truth was her appearance and habits were a matter of iron discipline.
In 1945 O’Keeffe bought a house atop a bluff overlooking the Chama River Valley. By 1949 it was ready to move into.
O’Keeffe wrote to a friend about her new space:
I’ve done over an old house in Abiquiu — Have a huge studio. White with a dirt floor — It is so large it is like being out doors — I have two tables ten feet long and four feet wide and two big saw horses and a large desk — and the room seems empty.
This woman who seemed to relish fame also said,
I think one of my best times was when nobody was interested in me.
O’Keeffe wrote in 1963,
You get the garden planted.
You get the roof fixed.
You take the dog to the vet.
You spend the day with a friend.
You learn to make a new kind of bread.
… The painting is like a thread that runs through all the reasons for all the other things that make one’s life.
I’m glad you showed a picture of her kitchen. She was also a wonderful cook. Her assistant/companion compiled her recipes in “A Painter’s Kitchen: Recipes from the Kitchen of Georgia O’Keeffe.” They are simple, but delicious (especially her Roast Leg of Lamb with Garlic). I think how a person cooks is another insight into “how they lived.” Monet was quite a cook at his home and studio in Giverney—“Monet’s Table.” I also loved the way O’Keeffe dressed; often wished I could find clothes like hers. Thank you for this wonderful postcard.
Another excellent Postcard. Georgia's spaces were just gorgeous and so "her" in many ways. And I love her quote at the end - it put me in a calm and happy mood to start the day (so perhaps I'll skip the news this morning!). Thanks, Deda!