Director’s Foreword

Arteaga, Agustín

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Director’s Foreword

Agustín Arteaga

Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow

Director’s Foreword

Author

Agustín Arteaga

PublisherDallas Museum of Art

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100077

Director’s Foreword

Agustín Arteaga
The Eugene McDermott Director

Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow is the first publication devoted to exploring the life and work of Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe (1889–1961), a younger sister of Georgia O’Keeffe. Virtually unknown today, Ida O’Keeffe comes to life in these pages through the thoughtful consideration of her personal history, the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz during the 1920s, and, most of all, through reproductions of Ida’s creative work, which reveal her to be an artist who experimented with several bold, distinctive styles.

The catalogue illustrates the best extant works by Ida (oils, watercolors, and monotypes) and considers their merits as well as their place within the aesthetics of American Modernism during the 1920s and 1930s. The creative imagination and strength of these works ultimately raise the question of what might have been possible had she received the support that would have allowed her vision and her art to flourish. Her sister Georgia and her brother-in-law Alfred Stieglitz, who stood as the most likely sources of support, were, instead, inimical to Ida in the collision of her professional ambitions and personal realities.

We offer our particular appreciation to Sue Canterbury, the Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, for conceiving and organizing the exhibition and its accompanying publication. Having first suggested an exhibition on the work of Ida O’Keeffe in 2014, she pursued the idea with unflagging enthusiasm, undertaking a vast amount of primary research and corresponding with numerous scholars and colleagues to create an art historical examination of Ida’s legacy that breaks new ground. Her vision and persistence have been instrumental in bringing this ambitious project to fruition.

Sue Canterbury contributed the three chapters that examine Ida’s life and oeuvre. The McDermott Curatorial Interns for American Art also made important contributions to the catalogue: Francesca Soriano (2016–2017) provided the text on dynamic symmetry; Erin Piñon (2015–2016) and Lea Stephenson (2017–2018) compiled and refined both the artist’s Chronology and the Exhibition History. All these texts introduce new scholarship pertaining to Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe and will stimulate further research regarding this hitherto underappreciated artist.

We especially thank our partners at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, whose commitment to the project has made the tour possible. Olivier Meslay, The Felda and Dena Hardymon Director, was an early and strong proponent of this project in his former role as Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and the Senior Curator of European and American Art at the DMA. We are delighted that the exhibition will travel to the Clark.

Many other people contributed to the success of this project. For their contributions to the creation of this publication, we extend our appreciation to Eric Zeidler, Publications Manager at the DMA; Catherine Comeau, the editor; Gonzalo Saavedra, Félix Andrada, María José Subiela, Marta García, and Mayte Garrido of Ediciones El Viso; and Patricia Fidler and Nicholas Geller of Yale University Press. The exhibition and publication were produced through the efforts of DMA staff members Jacqui Allen, Jill Bernstein, Niki Brown, Cynthia Calabrese, Jessie Carrillo, Giselle Castro-Brightenburg, Brad Flowers, Laura Graziano, Rosemary Gutiérrez, Jessica Harden, Laura Hartman, Lance Lander, Jaclyn Le, John Lendvay, Stacey Lizotte, Martha MacLeod, Claire Moore, Skye Malish Olson, Emily Schiller, Rachel Spradley, Isabel Stauffer, Jenny Stone, Queta Moore Watson, Joni Wilson, and Tamara Wootton Forsyth, each of whom played an important role.

To the lenders to Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow, we extend special thanks for their willingness to part with their works and to see them in fortuitous juxtaposition at the Dallas Museum of Art. For a listing of the lenders, please refer to this page.

Finally, and most importantly, Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow owes its very existence to the extraordinary generosity of The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation, whose advocacy for raising the profile of women artists, past and present, has made it possible to illuminate the life and work of this fascinating artist and individual.

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