Desert Abstraction

Like many American artists during the 20th century, Georgia O’Keeffe wanted a Modernism that was distinctly American in both its form and content. While some of her contemporaries looked to cites, industry, or American social culture for this subject matter, O’Keeffe set her eyes on the Southwest and its distinctive geography. O’Keeffe’s approach to abstraction involved simplifying natural forms to their most basic visual elements. The spare desert landscape is particularly well suited to this way of seeing, and O’Keeffe used the land as content for her abstract compositions. Untitled (Desert Abstraction) can be seen as both a landscape and an abstract arrangement of varied colors, shapes and textures and is equally successful either way.

Before being acquired by the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, this painting was hung in both Alfred Stieglitz’s Gallery, and in the New York home of the original collector as it is currently on view. However, it later began to be hung and reproduced in the opposite orientation. Once the painting became a part of the museum’s collection, and when prompted by a request from the family of the original owner, we investigated further. Reviewing historic photographs and an inscription by O’Keeffe on the back of the painting, the decision was made to display the artwork in this, its original orientation. That being said, this is a successful abstraction, and it works as a painting either way you hang it. (Waguespack, 2018).