Georgia O'Keeffe

probably 1918

Alfred Stieglitz

Associated Names
Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The image shows the upper body of a person lying down. The person is reclining with their head resting on a pillow. Their left arm is bent with the hand resting on their forehead, and the right arm is partially visible. The person's face is partially in shadow, showing closed eyes, a relaxed mouth, and prominent facial features. Their hair is dark and appears slightly disheveled. They are wearing a loose, light-colored garment. In the background, there is a dark wooden chair partially visible, and the setting seems to be indoors with soft lighting.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    palladium print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 18.4 x 23.1 cm (7 1/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
    sheet: 20.2 x 25.1 cm (7 15/16 x 9 7/8 in.)
    mat: 51.5 x 41.1 cm (20 1/4 x 16 3/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1980.70.96

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    OK 40A

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    517

The image shows a man leaning his head on his hand, positioned with his face resting on his left hand. He has a mustache, thin-framed eyeglasses, and thick, greying hair that curls slightly at the edges. He is dressed in a formal jacket, a white shirt, and a black bow tie. The background is a soft, dark blur.

Alfred Stieglitz

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Discover over 1,000 artworks that the artist’s wife Georgia O’Keeffe termed his “Key Set” of prize photographs. Museum scholars have illuminated each work, his career, practices, and lifetime achievements.

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1980.

Associated Names

Bibliography

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 517.

Inscriptions

by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, lower left, in graphite: Treated by Steichen 1949
by later hands, center verso, in graphite: rough; lower center verso: K / OK / 40A; on mount, lower left verso: OK 40A

Wikidata ID

Q64037078

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

Remarks

O’Keeffe suggested that this photograph and Key Set numbers 518–522 were made soon after she arrived in New York in 1918: “My hands had always been admired since I was a little girl—but I never thought much about it. He [Stieglitz] wanted head and hands and arms on a pillow—in many different positions. I was asked to move my hands in many different ways—also my head—and I had to turn this way and that” (Georgia O’Keeffe in Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait by Alfred Stieglitz [1978]).

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997.61.9

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