Curatorial Acknowledgments

Canterbury, Sue

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Curatorial Acknowledgments

Sue Canterbury (Editor)

Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow

Resurrecting the life and art of Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe has been a multiyear process that has relied on the support and generous inclinations of many institutions and individuals...

Author

Sue Canterbury (Editor)

PublisherDallas Museum of Art

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-100078

Curatorial Acknowledgments

Sue Canterbury
The Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art

Resurrecting the life and art of Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe has been a multiyear process that has relied on the support and generous inclinations of many institutions and individuals. From my first encounter with Ida’s Variation on a Lighthouse Theme II (cat. 18) in a Dallas collection in 2013, my colleagues at the Dallas Museum of Art were intrigued and excited at the prospect of staging an exhibition focused on this virtually unknown artist cloaked within the fame of her older sister, Georgia O’Keeffe. Essential to the project’s adoption was the support of Olivier Meslay, the DMA’s former Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs (now Director at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts). Subsequent to Olivier’s departure, the DMA’s new Eugene McDermott Director, Agustín Arteaga, assumed the mantle of support and encouragement to bring this project to fruition.

Shortly following the official decision in 2014 to launch the research and development of the exhibition, the project received a significant inaugural boost, and ongoing aftereffect, from an article written by Eve M. Kahn that appeared in the New York Times on May 30, 2014. Titled “A Sister as Second Fiddle to Georgia O’Keeffe,” the write-up sparked a series of contacts from individuals offering information, correspondence, photographs, and artwork revealing their families’ connections to Ida O’Keeffe at various stages of her life. Possibly the most significant contact to surface following the announcement in the Times came from an individual who had purchased a box containing the artist’s scrapbook, records of works, critical reviews, and the brochures and announcements associated with Ida’s participation in various exhibitions. It was, in essence, her personal archive, thoroughly documenting her professional life as an artist. Others provided me with information confirming Ida’s presence at one location or another during periods for which no other evidence existed or provided information revealing the personality and character of the artist. I am greatly indebted to Tom and Cindy Anderson, Karen Dean, Sandy Funderburg, Peter Gaut, Robert Keeler, Kate Becker Morrison, Shirley Adelson Siegel, and Nanette Welton for taking the initiative to contact me and provide previously undocumented information. Their impact on the project has been inestimable.

Ida’s many relocations during her life required the generous assistance of many individuals who eagerly provided information regarding her involvement at their institutions. Key among those who helped to piece together Ida’s education history were Dr. William Black, historian and archivist at Chatham Hall (aka Chatham Episcopal Institute); Meghan Bryant, Swem Special Collections at the College of William and Mary, offered invaluable material on the Williamsburg Female Institute; Edward Gaynor, University of Virginia Archives, provided documentation about Ida’s attendance at UVA’s summer programs; Barbara J. Niss, Director of Archives and Mount Sinai Records, and Joan Cropley, Treasurer of the hospital’s Alumnae Association, provided records that gave insights into Ida’s character and filled in a rich context to her time as a nursing student; Jennifer Govan, Senior Librarian, Jocelyn K. Wilk, University Archivist, and Matthew Bolton, former Supervisor of Records, all at Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, were generous in making available records associated with her studies at the Teachers College. Special thanks to Kelly McAnnaney, archivist, and Gene Morris, reference specialist, both of the National Archives, Washington, DC, for their assistance in providing records for Ida's Public Works of Art Project mural. The pedagogic impact made by Charles James Martin of Columbia Teachers College on the development of Ida’s aesthetics of abstraction was substantially illuminated through the unstinting assistance of Mona Nagai, Film Collection Curator at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and Pea Hicks. For providing records on Ida’s summer Carnegie–AIA Fellowships, I am indebted to Brooke McManus, Archives Assistant at the Harvard Art Museum, and Robin Carlaw, researcher at the Harvard University Archives.

Access to the correspondence of Georgia, Ida, their sisters Catherine, Anita, and Claudia, Alfred Stieglitz, Sherwood Anderson, Arnold Rönnebeck, and Paul Rosenfeld was vital to a clearer understanding of significant events in Ida’s life. Such would not have been possible without the unfailing assistance of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, in particular, Melissa Barton, Dolores Colón, Rebecca Hatcher, Anne Marie Menta, Jeffrey Rao, and Karen Spicher. My sincere thanks go to Elizabeth Ehrnst, the Archives and Digital Collections Librarian at the Georgia O’Keeffe Research Center in Santa Fe. At the Archives of American Art in Washington, DC, my special thanks go to Margaret Atkins, Marisa Bourgoin, and Erin Kinhart. In Fort Worth, I am indebted to Samuel Duncan and Jon Frembling at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, who assisted with access to on-site materials from the Archives of American Art. I am particularly grateful to Robert Keeler for delivering a windfall—the correspondence of his great aunts, Katherine and Elizabeth Keeler, who regularly provided observations of Ida in their letters home during their time at Chatham Episcopal Institute.

Ida’s history as an art teacher was fleshed out through the information provided by helpful individuals at institutions where she had served, especially Tom Eshelman, former Executive Director at Valle Crucis Conference Center (aka Valle Crucis School for Girls), who shared important documents associated with Ida’s year at the institution when it was a girls’ school; Sara Love, archivist at Athens State University (aka Athens College); Jennifer Gibson at the State University of New York College at Cortland (aka Cortland Normal School); Anne M. Baker, archivist at Missouri State University (aka Southwest Missouri State Teachers College); and Kiri Mack-Hansen, Research Assistant, and Greta Russell, Registrar, both at the Springfield Art Museum, Missouri. A thorough picture of Ida’s time in San Antonio was created through the indefatigable efforts of Leonora D. Laney, University Archivist at the Sister Elizabeth Anne Sueltenfuss Library at Our Lady of the Lake University (aka Our Lady of the Lake College), as well as the welcome aid of Marise McDermott, President, and Elizabeth Higgins, Registrar, at the Witte Museum. Carlene O. Cummings, University Specialist at the Mary Livermore Library, University of North Carolina–Pembroke (aka Pembroke State College for Indians), enthusiastically shared materials related to Ida’s brief tenure in 1941–1942 as founding director of the college’s art department.

In Whittier, I am greatly indebted to the involvement of several individuals whose assistance gave greater depth, scope, and context to the nineteen years Ida spent in that fair city. Vicki Schramm, President of the Whittier Art Gallery, was Whittier’s key champion of Ida and gave unstintingly of her time, sharing extensive documentation and suggesting paths (and contacts) for further exploration. Acting as my tour guide during my research trip to Whittier, she made clear to me Ida’s world and those institutions with which she became so deeply involved. I am beholden, as well, to Erin Fletcher Singley, Digital Archive Specialist at the Whittier Public Library, and Tim Traeger, Executive Director, and Kyle Smith, Manager, of the Whittier Historical Society, for providing me with access to many resource materials.

Many colleagues assisted through offering leads, suggestions, and their expertise during the long incubation of this project. I am grateful to Hunter Drohojowska-Philp and Barbara Buhler Lynes for their suggestions in the earliest phases of the research. The assistance of Erin B. Coe at the Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, Pennsylvania, and Michael K. Komanecky at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Cushing, Maine, was most helpful in ruling out Lake George and Deer Isle, respectively, as possible locations depicted in watercolors by Ida. I am indebted to Robert Schroeder, Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, for sharing his recollections of conversations with Catherine O’Keeffe Klenert; to Peter Klein at the Sun Prairie Historical Library and Museum; to Gayle Martinson, Reference Librarian, and Lee Grady, Reference Archivist, both at the Wisconsin Historical Society; to Betsy Fahlman, School of Art, Arizona State University, for sharing information and photography connected with Arnold Rönnebeck; to Amy Ronnebeck Hall for permissions associated with her grandfather’s photography; and to Rachel Arauz for her recommendations regarding art colonies in Maine. Other colleagues lent their support through loans from their institutional collections that were integral to the realization of the exhibition, including Sarah Greenough, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Erica Hirshler, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Gabriella Svenningsen, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Stephen Barker and Amy Lin, University of California Museum and Institute of California Art, Irvine; and Cody Hartley at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.

In building the exhibition checklist, several individuals and galleries were generous with their time and assistance in making connections with private lenders. Among them, I especially would like to thank Mark Brock at Brock & Co.; Robert DeLapp; Gerald Peters, Alice Duncan, and Alexandra Polemis Vigil at the Gerald Peters Gallery; Gillian Blitch and Jeff Mitchell at Mitchell Brown Fine Art; and Meredith Ward. To each of the lenders listed on page 4, I offer my heartfelt thanks for the enthusiasm and overwhelming support they have shown from the outset of this project.

Most close at hand have been my colleagues at the Dallas Museum of Art, who have invested substantial time, thought, and effort in bringing the exhibition and catalogue to fruition, and whose contributions are applauded in the Director’s Foreword, the accolades of which I heartily second. In addition, I would like to express my appreciation to several who shared, along with me, the long process of research and discovery to uncover materials vital to reclaiming the life story of the artist. In the Mildred R. and Frederick M. Mayer Library at the Museum, I offer my sincere gratitude to Jacqueline Allen, Director, and Jenny Stone, Librarian, who sought out and obtained resources essential to the project. In the curatorial department, I am deeply indebted to Martha MacLeod, Senior Curatorial Administrator, as well as a succession of diligent McDermott Interns who, through their efforts, extended the reach of inquiry into every possible nook. Thus, to Samantha Robinson, Erin Piñon, Francesca Soriano, and Lea Stephenson, I offer my most sincere thanks for the devotion and zeal they brought to the chase, thereby contributing so much to our understanding of Ida O’Keeffe.

Major support for this exhibition and catalogue comes from The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation, whose enthusiasm for the project enabled it to be developed and perfected to the level that such a fascinating subject requires. I am grateful for their early endorsement of this project and their ongoing commitment to the advancement of women artists.

I also extend my deepest gratitude to June O’Keeffe Sebring, who believed that an exhibition about her favorite aunt was long overdue. Her reminiscences and thoughts about Ida and the O’Keeffe sisters brought clarity to the complex family dynamics at play among them. In addition, her permissions facilitated the release of Ida’s records at Columbia, which contained valuable material revealing the importance of Charles Martin in the development of her work. In addition, the family photographs she shared have given dimension and depth to the artist and her life.

I dedicate this undertaking to the memory of Ida Ten Eyck O’Keeffe in the hope that it serves to illuminate her undeniable talent and encourages consideration of alternate outcomes, had her potential been realized within her lifetime.

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