Georgia O'Keeffe:
A Bibliography

Bibliography | Primary Sources | Intros and Anthologies | The Life | The Work | Critics on the Critics | Feminist Approaches, | Catalogues and Art Books

Bibliography on O'Keeffe

Charimonte, Paula L. Women Artists in the United States: A Selective Bibliography and Resource Guide, 1975-86. G.K. Hall, 1990.
Arch: REF Z7963 A75 W65

Hoffman, Katherine. An Enduring Spirit: The Art of GOK. Scarecrow Press, 1984.
Contains copious annotated biblio, including much on background sources.

Primary Sources

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Portrait by Alfred Stieglitz. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.
A selection of Stieglitz's photographs of O'Keeffe.

Gibiore, Clive, ed. Lovingly, Georgia. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
Letters to and from Anita Pollitzer. Useful for seeing exactly what all OK was reading -- Clive Bell, Jerome Eddy, Ibsen and Greek dramatists, Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

O'Keeffe, Georgia. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York: Viking, 1976.
Autobiographical compilation of paintings with attached stories; main source of OK myth.

O'Keeffe, Georgia. Some Memories of Drawings. NY: Atlantis Editions, 1974.

Pollitzer, Anita. A Woman on Paper. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1988.
Unofficial first biography, written by friend. Initially encouraged by OK, but then refused permission to publish on the grounds it was too romantic and idealized a portrait. OK later used many of passages almost word for word in her autobiographical book.

Introductions and Anthologies

Berry, Michael. Georgia O'Keeffe. [American Women of Achievement] New York: Chelsea House, 1988.

Bradbury, Ellen and Christopher Merrill, eds. From the Faraway Nearby: Another Look at Georgia O'Keeffe. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, 1992.
Collection of essays, half on Work and half on Life. Work essays very good.

Castro, Jan G. The Art and Life of GOK. NY: Crown Publishing (Random House), 1985.
A good, thorough introduction. Strong art historical awareness; notices many repeated motifs.

Hoffman, Katherine. An Enduring Spirit: The Art of GOK. Scarecrow Press, 1984.
Chapter five is a good overview of sexist criticism and OK's reaction to it.

Messinger, Lisa Mintz. Georgia O'Keeffe. The Metropolitan Museum of Art/ Thames and Hudson, 1988.
A good introduction/overview by a professional art historian who knows what she is talking about.

The Life

Buckley, Christopher. Blossoms and Bones: On the Life and Work of Georgia O'Keeffe. Vanderbilt UP, 1988.
This is a collection of poems inspired by GOK; some are reprinted in Bradbury and Merrill.

Dooley, David. "From O'Keeffe and Stieglitz." [Poems] Hudson Review (Winter 190): 578-90..

Eisler, Benita. O'Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance. Doubleday, 1991.
Reviews generally negative about sloppy scholarship and undocumented attributions of thoughts and motives. Seems to me to have been greatly influenced by Dorothy Norman's perspective; generally positive and forgiving of Stieglitz.

Gherman, Beverly. Georgia O'Keeffe" The "Wildness and Wonder" of Her World. NY: Atheneum, 1986.
Rather gushy; repeats most of old stories.

Hogrefe, Jeffrey. O'Keeffe: The Life of An American Legend. NY: Bantam, 1992.
Focuses particularly on later years and relationship with Juan Hamilton. Maintains OK bisexual with numerous affairs; also suggests childhood sexual abuse. None of more controversial claims are documented. Not sure it's very reliable.

Israel, Franklin. "Architectural Digest visits GOK." Architectural Digest (July 1981): 76-85, 136, 138.
Visit wi O'Keeffe in New Mexico when she is in her 90's.

Janos, Leo. "Georgia O'Keeffe at Eighty Four." Atlantic Monthly Dec. 1971.

Kraft, James. "The Scholarship and the Life." 21-8. In From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.

Kotz, Mary Lynn. "Georgia O'Keeffe." Eastern Airlines Review, May 1978 <50>.
Cited by Munro, p. 490, n. 6.

---. "GOK at Ninety." Art News 76 (Dec. 1977): 37-45.
ARCH: N1 A7n.

Lisle, Laurie. Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe. NY: Seaview Books, 1980.
First biography; generally reliable though a touch mythic.

Malcolm, Janet. "Photography: Artists and Lovers." [Rev. of GOK: A Portrait by Alfred Stieglitz.] New Yorker 55 (12 March 1979): 118-20.

Patten, Christine Taylor. Miss O'Keeffe.
Memoir written by a woman who was O'Keeffee's companion during her last years.

Robinson, Roxana. Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life. Harper Collins, 1989.
Best biography: dependable, well-researched, balanced judgments.

Schwartz, Sanford. "Georgia O'Keeffe Writes a Book." The New Yorker Aug 28, 1978.
Review of O'Keeffe's autobiography.

Tompkins, Calvin. "The Rose in the Eye Looked Pretty Fine." The New Yorker March 4, 1974 <66>.
New Yorker profile of OK. Very good; often quoted.

Turner, Robyn M. Georgia O'Keeffe. [juv.] Little, Brown, 1991.
Children's book; rather simplified treatment of happy marriage -- follows myths of romantic love: compulsory heterosexuality.

The Work

Baker, Kenneth. "The World in a Drop of Water." Art Forum 24 (Dec 1985): 56-9.
About watercolors.

Drojska, Hunter. "GOK: 1887-1986." Art News (Summer 1986).
Cited in R. Robinson, p. 610.

Eldredge, Charles C. Georgia O'Keeffe. NY: Abrams, 1991
Impressive new interpretations which focus on OK's abstractions. Many painting reproduced for the first time in print.

Getlin, Frank. "In the Light of GOK." New Republic (November 7, 1980): 27-8.

Goosen, Eugene C. "O'Keeffe" Vogue March 1, 1967 <174>. Cited by Munro, p. 490, n. 5.

Greenough, Sarah, "From the Faraway." 135-9. In GOK: Art and Letters by Jack Cowart, Juan Hamilton, and Sarah Greenough. Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art, 1987.
Reviews criticize this exhibit and essay as being too accepting of OK's control over the mythology surrounding her life and work.

Hartley, M. Adventures in the Arts 1920. Rpt. in Anderson Gallery Catalogue 1923.
Cited by Munro, p. 489, n. 3 as quintessential piece of sexual innuendo writing on OK. Included in Appendix of Lynes.

Haskell, Barbara. "GOK: Works on Paper: A Critical Essay." 1-13. In Georgia O'Keeffe: Works on Paper, Intro by David Turner. Sante Fe: U of New Mexico P, 1985.

Kramer, Hilton. "The American Precisionists." Arts March 1961.
(G&B, p. 194) This talks about her late paintings as anticipating "Minimalism"

Kuh, Katherine. The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists. New York: Harper and Row, 1962.
Long, wide-ranging interview with OK.

Merrill, Christopher. Introduction. 1- 20. In From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.

Messinger, Lisa M. "Sources for O'Keeffe's Imagery: A Case Study." 55-64. In From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.

Mullan, Anthony P. "Georgia O'Keeffe in Washington: The Art and the Image." Arts Magazine 62 (March 1988): 32-3.

Peters, Sarah W. Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years. Abbeville Press, 1991.
Extremely well-done: focuses on aesthetic sources. Basic thesis is that OK owes a great deal to photography innovations of Stieglitz circle, but also does substantial bkg on other influences.

Plagens, Peter. "A Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective in Texas." Artforum May 1966.

Rose, Barbara. "Georgia O'Keeffe: The Paintings of the Sixties." Art Forum 9 (Nov. 1970): 42-6.
ARCH: N6512 R63

---. "O'Keeffe's Trail."[Rev. of GOK by GOK] New York Review of Books 24 (March 31, 1977): 29-33.
Much cited by other critics and reviewers. Review of autobiographical collection of paintings published by Viking in 1977.Discusses OK's deliberate control of reputation; suggests stylist connection to Stein in simplicity of prose. Sees modernist connections to Matisse and Brancusi. Dow's influence an antidote to Cubism which she rejected b/c of fragmentation. Importance of Fenellosa's ideas, especially about art educating the public morality. Oriental influences parallel to influence of transcendental tradition of Emerson and Thoreau.

---. "The Self, the Style, the Art. of GOK." Vogue 177 (Oct. 1987): 432-3.

---. "The Truth About GOK." Journal of Art (Feb. 1990):

---. "Vaginal Iconography. New York Magazine 7 (Feb 11, 1974): 60-1. Cited by Munro, p. 501.

Rose, Barbara. "Georgia O'Keeffe's Universal Spiritual Vision." 98-100. In Georgia O'Keeffe Exhibition. [Catalogue of Show at the Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, August 1988.

Saville, Jennifer. "Georgia O'Keeffe in Hawaii." 113-26. In From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.

Udall, Sharyn R. "Beholding the Epiphanies: Mysticism and the Art of Georgia O'Keeffe." 89-112. In From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.
Interesting but too eager to find direct, allegorical correspondences with particular Theosophist systems.

Wagner, Anne Middleton. Three Artists (Three Women): Modernism and the Art of Hesse, Krasner, and O'Keeffe. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996.

Yeh, Susan Fillin. "Innovative Moderns: Arthur G. Dove and GOK." Arts Magazine 56 (June 1982): 68-72.

Critics on the Critics

Abrams, Edward. "The Image Maker." [Multiple rev. of books on GOK.] New Republic 200 (Jan. 30, 1989): 41-5.

Chave, Anna C. "O'Keeffe and the Masculine Gaze." Art in America 78 (Jan 1990): 115-24+. Rpt. in From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon, ed. Christopher and Ellen Bradbury. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.
Good overview of how male (and female) contemporary critics tended to see OK in sexualized terms encouraged by Stieglitz.

James, Merlin Inglis. "Flowers and Desert Places: The Genius and Failings of GOK." [Omnibus rev.] TLS May 21, 1993: 18-9..

Lynes, Barbara B. O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe, Stieglitz, and the Critics. Chicago, 1991.
Excellent; scholarly and meticulous. (Reviews agree). Main thesis is that OK resented sexualized interps encouraged by Stieglitz and set out to systematically alter and control critical reception of her work, in part by shifting to more realistic less abstract subject matter which was not so open to interpretation, but also through carefully honed de-emphasis on emotion and increased emphasis on independence in statements made to critics and interviewers.

Mitchell, Marilyn Hall. "Sexist Art Criticism: Georgia O'Keeffe -- A Case Study." Signs 3.3 (1978): 681-7.

Rosenblum, Naomi. "Gerogia O'Keeffe." [Rev. of Eisler and other recent work on OK] Art Journal 51.1 (Spring 1992): <113>.

Feminist Approaches To O'Keeffe

Alloway, Lawrence. "Notes on Georgia O'Keeffe's Imagery." Womanart 1 (Spring-Summer 1977): 18-9.

---. "Women's Art in the 70's." Art in America (May-June 1976): 64-72. Rpt. 59-77 in Feminist Collage: Educating Women in the Visual Arts, ed. Judy Loeb. NY: Teacher's College Press, Columbia U P, 1979.
Both Alloway articles cited by Lynes, p. 352.

Chicago, Judy. Through the Flower. Doubleday, 1975.

Dijkstra, Bram. "America and Georgia O'Keeffe." 105-29 In Georgia O'Keeffe in the West, ed. Nicholas Calloway and Doris Bry. Knopf, 1989.
May be the best thing written on OK and feminism so far. Discusses her subscriptions to Forerunner and The Masses, genderized expectations associated with abstract art

Leavell, Linda. "Marianne Moore and Georgia O'Keeffe: 'The Feelings of a Mother -- a Woman or a Cat'." 297-319. In Marianne Moore: Woman and Poet, ed. Patricia C. Willis. Orono: National Poetry Foundation, U of Maine, 1990.
Interesting but a bit strained at times.

Lippard, Lucy. From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art. NY: E.P. Dutton, 1976..

Lynes, Barbara B. O'Keeffe. "Georgia O'Keeffe and Feminism: A Problem of Position." 437-50. In The Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History, ed. Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard. NY: Harper/Collins, 1992.
Best, single piece on O'Keeffe's own rather ambivalent attitude towards the women's movement.

Munro, Eleanor. "Georgia O'Keeffe." 75-92. In Originals: American Women Artists. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1979.
Nice, condensed overview, though somewhat uncritical of myth. .

Norwood, Vera and Janice Monk, eds. The Desert Is No Lady: Southwestern Landscapes in Women's Writing and Art. Yale, 1987.

Sparks, Elisa Kay. "'A Match Burning in a Crocus': Modernism, Feminism, and Feminine Experience in Virginia Woolf and Georgia O'Keeffe." In Virginia Woolf: Themes and Variations: Selected Papers from the Third Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf. Vara Neverow-Turk and Mark Hussey, eds. NYC: Pace UP, 1994. 296-302.

---. "'Virginia O'Keeffe has an exhibit of drawings at 291': Paradoxes of Feminist Pin-Ups." In Re : Reading, Re: Writing, Re: Teaching Virginia Woolf : Selected Papers from the Fourth Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf : Bard College, Aannandale. Patricia Cramer, ed. New York: Pace UP, 1995.

Weisman, Celia. "OK's Art: Sacred Symbols and Spiritual Quest." Women's Art Journal 3 (Fall 1982/ Winter 1983): 10-14.

Catalogues and Art Books

Arrowsmith, Alexandra and Thomas West, eds. Georgia O'Keeffe & Alfred Stieglitz: Two Lives -- A Conversation in Paintings and Photographs. HarperCollins Publishers/ Calloway Editions in Association with The Phillips Collection, Washington D.D., 1992.
Interesting exhibit which juxtaposes Stieglitz and O'Keeffe's work. Includes several essays as well. Goes far to suggest that interaction and mutual influence btw GOK and AS was much more pervasive, subtle, and significant than previously suspected.

Bloemink, Barbara J. Georgia O'Keeffe : Canyon Suite. George Braziller, 1995..
Reprints many of OK's watercolors of Texas, 1916-20.

Bry, Doris and Nicholas Calloway, eds. Georgia O'Keeffe: The New York Years. NY: Knopf, 1991.
Big coffee-table book on early work, including NYC paintings. Colors a little garish. Contains excellent essay by Dijikstra.

Calloway, Nicholas, ed. Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers. Knopf, 1989.
Glossy, hyped color and exploded size. Very popular. Available as paperback and teeny tiny paperback.

Calloway, Nicholas and Doris Bry, eds. Georgia O'Keeffe in the West. Knopf, 1989.
Companion to NY Years; glossy, huge. Collects many of her later paintings especially those of SW landscapes and Indian artifacts.

Cowart, Jack, Juan Hamilton, and Sarah Greenough. Georgia O'Keeffe: Art and Letters. Washington, D.C.: National Gallary of Art, 1987.
Catalogue from one of the definitive retrospective exhibits. Probably best collection of her work. Good intro essays plus reprints of lots of letters.

Goodrich, Lloyd, and Doris Bry. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1970.
Catalogue from one of the first major retrospectives.

Eldredge, Charles C. Georgia O'Keefe : American and Modern. New Haven, CT: Yale U P, 1993.
Catalogue from recent international retrospective exhibit which emphasized OK's abstractions. Prints many new paintings. Excellent biographical sketch at the beginning contains best collection of photos of OK -- many not printed before.

Goethals, Marion M. Georgia O'Keeffe: Natural Isues: 1918-1924. Williams College Musuem of Art, 1992.
Catalogue of exhibition centered around OK's paintings of plants, especially skunk cabbages. Contains excellent essay on Skunk Cabbage Series by Charles Eldredge.

Rich, Daniel Catton. Georgia O'Keeffe. For the Art Institute of Chicago, 1943.
First major exhibit not in Steiglitz's galleries; essay by Rich often cited.

Saville, Jennifer. Georgia O'Keeffe: Paintings of Hawaii. Honolulu: Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1990.

Wilder, Mitchell A, ed. Georgia O'Keeffe. Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1966.
Catalogue of 1966 show where OK first exhibited Sky and Clouds Series.

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Website designed and maintained by Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks
sparks@hubcap.clemson.edu
Last update: 4/22/97

Georgia O'Keeffe: A Bibliography

Bibliography | Primary Sources | Intros and Anthologies | The Life | The Work | Critics on the Critics | Feminist Approaches, | Catalogues and Art Books

Back to Women's Art Home Page Back to Elisa's Home Page Website designed and maintained by Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks sparks@hubcap.clemson.edu Last update: 4/22/97

Georgia O'Keeffe:
A Bibliography

Back to Women's Art Home Page
Back to Elisa's Home Page

Website designed and maintained by Dr. Elisa Kay Sparks
sparks@hubcap.clemson.edu
Last update: 4/22/97