Many of them came to us from the artist herself under the auspices of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection (O’Keeffe having been married to the renowned photographer and gallerist from 1924 until his death). This foundational gift was the result of O’Keeffe’s long relationship with this museum, starting with her enrollment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1905 to 1906. It was cemented by her close friendship with Daniel Catton Rich, curator and later director of the Art Institute, who organized O’Keeffe’s first museum retrospective here in 1943. The Art Institute would go on to host additional exhibitions of the artist’s work during her lifetime, one of which resulted in the eventual acquisition of our monumental Sky above Clouds IV.
It is with pride in this long history with Georgia O’Keeffe that we celebrate her exceptional artistic vision with an exhibition focused on a little-known aspect of her work: the paintings, drawings, and pastels she made of New York City in the 1920s. Inspired by the Art Institute’s dazzling The Shelton with Sunspots, N.Y., the show investigates how O’Keeffe experimented across media and scale—as well as with various subjects, forms, and perspectives—over an energetic five-year period beginning in 1925. She called these works “my New Yorks” and through them investigated the dynamic potential of the cityscape.
As you enjoy our own vibrant city this summer, I encourage you to experience not only O’Keeffe’s vision but those of numerous other artists whose stories intersect with or are rooted in Chicago. Four Chicago Artists: Theodore Halkin, Evelyn Statsinger, Barbara Rossi, and Christina Ramberg explores the freewheeling exchange and cross-generational influences that fostered Chicago’s lively art scene, while Christina Ramberg: A Retrospective offers a comprehensive examination of the brief but impactful career of one of these artists, tracing her periods of formative experimentation and highlighting her most enduring images. Foreign Exchange: Photography between Chicago, Japan, and Germany, 1920–1960, meanwhile, looks at Chicago as a unique point of exchange that fostered the development of avant-garde photography.
From Georgia O’Keeffe’s New York to our Chicago, I hope you relish the many perspectives these exhibitions offer and discover new possibilities of your own.
—Sarah Kelly Oehler, Field-McCormick Chair and Curator, Arts of the Americas, and Vice President of Curatorial Strategy
