Detroit exhibit reframes O'Keeffe through architecture — SkimNews
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- The Detroit Institute of Arts opened 'Georgia O'Keeffe: Architecture' on September 11, presenting close to 40 works curated by Dia's Ben Coleman; the show runs through January 3.
- The exhibition concept grew out of O'Keeffe's 1932 painting 'Stables,' the only work in the show owned by the Dia, whose precise geometry of bright green, burgundy, and eggshell white prompted Coleman to reassess her architectural output.
- O'Keeffe's gritty New York cityscapes — depicting East River smokestacks and rows of industrial buildings — emerged from her residence at the Shelton Hotel, where she moved from the 11th floor in 1926 up to the 30th (out of 31) over the following years.
- A 1949 Brooklyn Bridge painting anchors the show, described by Coleman as a 'deeply personal' swan song as O'Keeffe departed New York, its flattened arches and swooping cables evoking stained-glass windows.
- The exhibition's patio door paintings document O'Keeffe's Abiquiu, New Mexico home, which she purchased in 1945 and spent four years restoring before moving in full-time in 1949; Coleman places these minimalist color studies alongside Agnes Martin and Mark Rothko.
- Coleman emphasized that O'Keeffe maintained deep personal and creative relationships with architects and designers whose influence on her built-environment work has long resided in the archives, and immersive digital experiences in the show let visitors inhabit the Shelton Hotel's upper floors and the Abiquiu patio.
Why it matters: The Detroit Institute of Arts is spotlighting ~40 of O'Keeffe's architectural works — from East River smokestacks to her Abiquiu patio door — reframing an artist famous for flowers and bones. Visitors have only through January 3 to see rarely-shown pieces alongside immersive recreations of the spaces where O'Keeffe lived and painted.
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