Day 337- O'Keeffe abstract



 April 30, 2023

To my surprise, nine Georgia O'Keeffe oils line the walls of gallery 903.  I'm surprised not only because I didn't realize that the Met's collection of O'Keeffes is so extensive, but also because I know that at least one of the paintings was moved from another location. The works on display exemplify the subjects we tend to associate with O'Keeffe:  flowers, animal bones, and scenes of the Southwest. They include some of her most iconic creations, including "Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue" and "Black Iris." (I'm interested to read that Alfred Stieglitz was shocked by the latter work's sexual overtones.) 

The nonrepresentational quality of today's work, which O'Keeffe painted in 1927,  makes it stand out from the others.  Entitled "Black Abstraction" and almost square in format (measuring perhaps 30 inches wide and 28 inches high),  it shows a number of curvilinear forms painted in various tones of black and gray that give the work an almost three-dimensional quality. A tiny white circle lies at the vertex where two intersecting lines  meet; despite  (or perhaps because of) its small size, it seizes my attention.  The circle strikes me as a brilliant touch.

As in the previous gallery, a display case holds a number of well-designed utilitarian objects. Of these, the one I most covet is a prototype for a tea set that Eliel Saarinen designed around 1934 for the International Silver Company.  The set consists of a tea urn, sugar bowl, and creamer, all spherical in form.  The urn sits on a stand with long rectangular cutouts; the stand gives the piece a feeling of airiness and lightness despite its solid geometric volumes. The placard explains that the company produced a limited run of the design in silver plate, but for use in his own home, Saarinen wanted warmer-looking brass plate.  Not to mention that brass is closer in color than silver to the tea the urn was designed to contain!

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