O'Keeffe was an avid collector of rocks, shells, driftwood, and bones, which were imaginatively displayed in her homes. They also became subjects of her paintings, many of which were small in size, like the objects themselves. Sometimes, however, she painted the objects large, showing every undulation, ridge, and color modulation. These detailed studies often made her still-life subjects resemble landscapes.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Clam Shell
Artist:Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Date:1930
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:24 × 36 in. (61 × 91.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1962
Object Number:62.258
Inscription: Initialed (verso, in center of five-pointed star, in graphite): OK; signed, dated, and inscribed (verso): Clam Shell—1930–O'Keeffe
the artist (1930–62; on extended loan to MMA, 1949–62; her gift as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to MMA)
New York. An American Place. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Recent Paintings, New Mexico, New York, Etc, Etc.," January 18–February 27, 1931, no catalogue (checklist no. 3 or 4, as "From a Shell").
Minneapolis. University Art Gallery, University of Minnesota. "5 Painters (Demuth, Dove, Hartley, Marin, O'Keeffe)," January 27–February 14, 1937, no. 45.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Georgia O'Keeffe: An Exhibition," May 14–August 25, 1946, no catalogue (checklist no. 41).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Alfred Stieglitz Exhibition: His Collection," June 10–August 31, 1947, no catalogue (checklist no. 80).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alfred Stieglitz: His Photographs and His Collection," February 2–29, 1948, no catalogue (checklist, loan no. 47.602).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fourteen American Masters: Paintings from Colonial Times to Today," October 16, 1958–January 4, 1959, no catalogue.
Fort Worth. Amon Carter Museum of Western Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: An Exhibition of the Work of the Artist from 1915 to 1966," March 17–May 8, 1966, unnumbered cat. (p. 29).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Georgia O'Keeffe: An Exhibition of the Work of the Artist from 1915 to 1966," May 28–July 3, 1966, unnumbered cat.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe," October 8–November 29, 1970, no. 64.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Georgia O'Keeffe," January 6–February 7, 1971, no. 64.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe," March 15–April 30, 1971, no. 64.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Still Life: 1915–1950," February 1, 1995–January 28, 1996, no catalogue.
Richmond, Va. Marsh Art Gallery. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 3–February 28, 1997, no. 57.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 28–May 23, 1997, no. 57.
Newport Beach, Calif. Newport Harbor Art Museum. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 20–August 15, 1997, no. 57.
Tulsa, Okla. Philbrook Museum of Art. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 12–November 7, 1997, no. 57.
Palm Beach, Fla. The Society of the Four Arts. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," January 9–February 8, 1998, no. 57.
Salina, Kansas. Salina Art Center. "Still Life: The Object in American Art, 1915–1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 6–May 3, 1998, no. 57.
Milwaukee Art Museum. "O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection," May 4–August 19, 2001, no. 29.
Santa Fe. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. "O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection," September 14, 2001–January 13, 2002, no. 29.
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection," February 8–May 20, 2002, no. 29.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction," September 17, 2009–January 17, 2010, unnumbered cat. (pl. 116).
Washington, D. C. Phillips Collection. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction," February 6–May 9, 2010, unnumbered cat.
Santa Fe. Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. "Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction," May 28–September 12, 2010, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 186.
San Diego Museum of Art. "O'Keeffe and Moore," May 13–August 27, 2023, no. 90.
Albuquerque Museum. "O'Keeffe and Moore," October 14–December 31, 2023, no. 90.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "O'Keeffe and Moore," February 6–June 9, 2024, no. 90.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. "Georgia O'Keeffe." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 42 (Fall 1984), pp. 23, 26–27, 29, 60, fig. 25.
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1988, pp. 42, 46–47, ill.
Doris Bry inGeorgia O'Keeffe, in the West. Ed. Doris Bry and Nicholas Callaway. New York, 1989, unpaginated, pl. 6.
Elizabeth Montgomery. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1993, pp. 82–83, ill.
Maria Costantino. Georgia O'Keeffe. New York, 1994, p. 164, ill.
Lowery Stokes Sims inStill Life: The Object in American Art, 1915-1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Marsh Art Gallery, Richmond, Va. New York, 1996, pp. 142, 146, 170, no. 57, ill. p. 147 (color).
Zan Dubin. "The Object Seems to Be Evolutionary." Los Angeles Times (June 28, 1997), p. F18.
John Brandenburg. "Still Lifes Convey Emotion Without Motion." Daily Oklahoman (September 26, 1997), p. 13.
William Jaeger. "Looking at 'Still Life' is Almost Like Going Home." Times Union (June 28, 1998), p. 12.
Barbara Buhler Lynes. Georgia O'Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Conn., 1999, vol. 1, p. 426, no. 707, vol. 2, p. 1121, fig. 44 (installation photo).
Lisa Mintz Messinger. Georgia O'Keeffe. London, 2001, pp. 91, 93, fig. 60.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 14, 201, 280, no. 186, ill. (color).
Sarah Greenough, ed. My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Vol. 1, 1915–1933. New Haven, Conn., 2011, pp. 564, 694.
Isabelle Duvernois inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, p. 193.
Anita Feldman inO'Keeffe and Moore. Ed. Anita Feldman. Exh. cat., San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, 2023, p. 110, no. 90, ill. p. 129 (color).
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
1916
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