Georgia O'Keeffe—Hands and Thimble

1919

Alfred Stieglitz

Artist, American, 1864 - 1946

The backs of two splayed hands, palms down with one coming down from the top and one up from the bottom, nearly fill this vertical photograph and are shown lightly entwined in a field of dark fabric. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in tones of golden and dark brown. The thumb of the left hand, coming up from the bottom, points upward so the fingers splay elegantly to our left. The forefinger and thumb touch to hold a needle stitching the dark fabric. The right hand comes down to our right and almost touches the left hand. The index finger is bent under at the first knuckle, and the ring and pinkie fingers gently curve downward into the fabric. The middle finger extends straight and is capped with a shiny thimble, which nearly touches the thumb of the opposite hand. The skin on the hands and wrists is smooth and the photograph is lightly blurred, creating the impression of a patina. The folds of the gathered fabric create a shadowy pinwheel effect.

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Is a picture a portrait if it doesn’t include a face? Alfred Stieglitz took hundreds of photographs of his wife, artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Many focused on only a part of her body. He felt these images captured her essence. Here, her hands dance gracefully over dark swirling fabric. She clasps a sewing needle between the finger and thumb of one hand. A thimble caps a finger on the other. O’Keeffe was not only a pioneering painter but also an expert seamstress. Stieglitz’s innovative approach to composing, cropping, and printing photographs made him an influential figure in 20th-century art.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    palladium print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred Stieglitz Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 24 x 19.4 cm (9 7/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
    sheet: 25.2 x 20 cm (9 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1980.70.138

  • Stieglitz Estate Number

    OK 3B

    Part of Stieglitz Key Set Online Edition

    Learn more

  • Key Set Number

    566

Alfred Stieglitz

Curious for more Alfred Stieglitz scholarship?

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

Exhibition History

1958

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March 16–April 27, 1958

1983

  • Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 3–May 8, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 17–August 14, 1983; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18, 1983–January 3, 1984

1989

  • On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: 150 Years of Photography, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, May 7–July 30, 1989; The Art Institute of Chicago, September 16–November 26, 1989; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 21, 1989–February 25, 1990

2012

  • The Serial Portrait: Photography and Identity in the Last One Hundred Years: National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 30–December 31, 2012

2015

  • In Light of the Past: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, May 3–July 26, 2015

2016

  • American Art, 1900–1950: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs: Alfred Stieglitz and His Circle: National Gallery of Art, Washington, September 30, 2016–April 11, 2017

Bibliography

1950

  • Norman, Dorothy. "Alfred Stieglitz on Photography.” Magazine of Art 43 (December 1950): 301.

1983

  • Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, 1983: no. 80.

1989

  • Greenough, Sarah, Joel Snyder, David Travis, and Colin Westerbeck. On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Art Institute of Chicago, 1989: pl. 207.

1991

  • Peters, Sarah Whitaker. Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years. New York, 1991: pl. 39.

2002

  • Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 1, cat. 566.

Inscriptions

by Doris Bry, on mount, lower left, in graphite: Treated by Steichen—6/50; lower left verso: OK 3B
by later hand, center left verso, in graphite: K / OK 3B

Wikidata ID

Q64037178

Scholarly Remarks and Key Set Data

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 Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.745

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, YCAL MSS 85, box 123, folder 2466

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 28.129

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 24.1728 (inscribed: Hands—Georgia O’Keeffe / Photograph by / Alfred Stieglitz / New York / Negative & Print / made by / Alfred Stieglitz / 1919 / Print 4 from this negative)

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Ph-139

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 52.1813

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

The Bluff Collection

Collection of Ydessa Hendeles

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 573.1980

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1997-38-2

Location unknown

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

Waldo Frank et al., America & Alfred Stieglitz (New York, 1934): pl. 30d (ill., Georgia O’Keeffe Hands—No. 27, 1919)

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