See also Georgia O'Keefe at Auction
PROPERTY FROM THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE (1887-1986)
A Sunflower from Maggie
oil on canvas
16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm.)
Painted in 1937.
$6,000,000-8,000,000
Christie's has announced Georgia O’Keeffe’s A Sunflower from Maggie (1937), will be a featured highlight in the 20th Century Art Evening Sale taking place this May in New York. The painting was deaccessioned from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA); it will be sold to benefit acquisitions for the Museum (estimate: $6 million - $8 million).
Emily Kaplan, Christie’s Specialist and Co-Head of 20th Century Evening Sale, remarks, “It is an honor to partner with the MFA on the sale of Georgia O’Keeffe’s A Sunflower from Maggie to benefit acquisitions for the Museum. A truly iconic image from one of the finest 20th century American modernists, this work is a leading example of American painting of the pre-war era. While flowers are a classic signature of the artist’s oeuvre, sunflower canvases by O’Keeffe are in fact quite rare; this stands as one of just six sunflower paintings she made in her lifetime. We are proud to offer it at Christie’s this Spring to support the Museum’s ongoing initiative to diversify and expand the development of its collection.”
Tylee Abbott, Christie’s Specialist and Head of Department, American Art, remarks, “Beyond the steeped history of this compelling subject, and its rarity within O’Keeffe’s oeuvre, A Sunflower from Maggie represents everything that one looks for in a masterwork by the artist—representational at first glance, yet incredibly nuanced and complex in her distinctive manner. Directed by the petals, the mesmerizing central oculus of the sunflower invites the viewer deep into the painting, allowing one to completely lose themselves in the work. It is precisely this type of experience and its universal appeal that has launched O’Keeffe on to the international stage and established her in the annals of art history.”
Samantha Koslow, Christie’s Director, Museums, Institutions and Corporate Collections, remarks, “It is an honor to partner with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston to help support the funding future acquisitions. Museums are our most important cultural partners and we are grateful for the opportunity to help support the Museum's goals."
Georgia O’Keeffe has become a pervasive figure in the history of American art. With a career spanning well over half a century, she is known for her large-scale abstract modernist paintings as well as her trademark floral iconography and desert motifs. A Sunflower from Maggie displays all of the characteristics of her most coveted artworks. The Maggie referenced in the title refers to Margaret Johnson, friend and neighbor to O’Keeffe in New Mexico, and wife to the President of Johnson & Johnson. A Sunflower from Maggie has been exhibited widely in renowned institutions most recently including the North Carolina Museum of Art (2012).
In addition to A Sunflower from Maggie, Christie’s will offer O’Keeffe’s southwestern landscape Abiquiu Trees VII on behalf of the MFA in the 18 May 2022 American Art sale (estimate: $700,000-1,000,000). This painting will also be sold to benefit acquisitions for the Museum.
Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii to be Featured
Georgia O’Keeffe
Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii, 1939
Estimate: $4-6 million
Phillips is pleased to announce the first highlight of the New York Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art – Georgia O’Keeffe’s Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii, a seminal work from her Hawaii series with exceptional provenance. The sale on 17 November marks the first time the painting is coming to auction, having first been owned by The Dole Pineapple Company for 40 years, before being acquired by Thurston Twigg-Smith in 1987, a prominent, fifth-generation Hawaiian known for his philanthropy and contributions to the arts. Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii is the most significant of O’Keeffe’s Hawaii pictures to appear at auction in three decades and the first to be offered in a Phillips Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art.
Elizabeth Goldberg, Senior International Specialist, American Art and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas, said, “Georgia O’Keeffe’s experience in Hawaii inspired some of the most fascinating and visually striking works in her oeuvre. Of the approximately twenty paintings O’Keeffe created during her time in Hawaii, fourteen are in museum collections. We are thrilled to offer Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii in our New York Evening sale, presenting collectors with the rare opportunity to acquire an important work by this iconic artist. With a storied provenance and a remarkable place in the art historical canon, we look forward to seeing strong international interest in this extraordinary painting.”
One of the most sought-after artists today, Georgia O’Keeffe stands as a singular figure in 20th century art history. O’Keeffe’s Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii represents a pivotal moment in the artist’s practice, when she embarked on a nine-week sojourn to Hawaii in 1939 on a commission to create images for print advertisements by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, now famously named Dole. One of two works ultimately selected for the advertising campaign,Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii is one of the most iconic paintings among the approximately 20 oils she painted during her time there. Displaying the artist’s distinct visual language and striking employment of color, Crab’s Claw Ginger Hawaii perfectly captures O’Keeffe’s independent and adventurous spirit, and beautifully shows her continuous inspiration in the natural world.
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GEORGIA O’KEEFFE’S SOUTHWESTERN INSPIRATION
Four years following the sale of
Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic flower painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, Sotheby’s announced that they will again offer three important works by the artist from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico to benefit its Acquisitions Fund.
The American Art auction on 16 November is highlighted by 
Cottonwood Tree in Spring from 1943 (estimate $1.5/2.5 million).
O’Keeffe started to visit New Mexico regularly in 1929 when, in an effort to escape city life, she left New York to spend the summer there.
Works such as Cottonwood Tree in Spring reveal the profound inspiration O’Keeffe gleaned from the American Southwest. The sublime beauty of the landscape provided a free range for her imagination, and she would continue to investigate its imagery for the remainder of her life, returning almost every summer until 1949 when she made Abiquiu her permanent home. While the artist had always utilized the natural world as the basis for her unique visual language, in New Mexico her art gained an even deeper intimacy and, in works such as Cottonwood Tree in Spring, it transcends a literal study of nature to evoke the spiritual connection she felt with her adopted home.
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Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
Sand Hill, Alcalde
Leading the sale, is a large-scale painting by Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Lake George Reflection, painted circa 1921-22, from the Collection of J.E. Safra (estimate: $8,000,000-12,000,000). Inspired by O’Keeffe’s frequent visits to the family home of Alfred Stieglitz, this work continues in the tradition of earlier Hudson River School painters inspired by the sublime topography of the region, but interpreted in O’Keeffe’s avant-garde style of abstraction. The painting can be viewed either vertically or horizontally and this ambiguity of orientation creates a work that is at once highly representational and wholly abstract. First exhibited in 1923 by the artist at the Anderson Galleries, the work was hung vertically, encouraging anthropomorphic comparisons most closely relating to her magnified flower imagery, which she was simultaneously exploring.
Four exceptional works by Georgia O’Keeffe highlight The Collection of Kippy Stroud, who was the founder of the Fabric Workshop Museum. Led by Red Hills with Pedernal, White Clouds, painted in 1936 (estimate: $3,000,000-5,000,000), this work embodies O’Keeffe’s lifelong fascination with shapes and colors found in nature as well as her close connection to the American Southwest.
Also included in the collection is an early abstract watercolor by O’Keeffe, Blue I, executed in 1916, (estimate: $2,500,000-3,500,000), which represents her investigation of pure abstraction and acts as one of the earliest and most original abstract images in the history of American art. Blue I is the current auction record for a watercolor by O’Keeffe, having previously sold for $3,008,000 at Christie’s New York.
WHITE CALLA LILY
Georgia O’Keeffe’s impressively scaled masterwork Cross with Red Heart from 1932,
