The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art
is now at the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain CT
On view through June 2, 2019
The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art
Friday, February 22, 2019 — Sunday, June 02, 2019
Stitzer Family Gallery, Robert and Dorothy Vance Gallery, and Richard and Virginia McKernan Gallery
Enormous flowers, luscious colors, desert landscapes, feminine forms, and still lifes. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) pioneered revolutionary ways of visually interpreting the world through her early embrace of abstraction and effusive use of color and is recognized as one of the preeminent American painters of the twentieth century. Her art has intrigued viewers and artists alike for generations, and this spring, the New Britain Museum of American Art will present The Beyond: Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Art, an innovative exhibition that celebrates her work and legacy. Drawn from important public and private collections across the country, The Beyond will bring together three dozen iconic works—spanning O’Keeffe’s long career and the full range of her output—as the centerpiece of a unique exploration. Grouped by theme—Flowers; Cities and Deserts; Still Lifes; The Intangible Thing; Finding the Figure; and The Beyond—O’Keeffe’s paintings and sculptures will appear alongside works by twenty contemporary artists that evoke, investigate, and elaborate upon the images and approaches that mark O’Keeffe’s career.
The Beyond will examine the lasting impact and legacy of O’Keeffe’s work as a touchstone for artists working today, showing the continuing connections between our collective history and our present.
This exhibition will not make one-to-one comparisons between O’Keeffe and the contemporary artists included here. Rather, the work of these artists is intended to expand on conversations and themes O’Keeffe presented in her work and her life, creating new ways of seeing and understanding the mother of American Modernism. The New Britain Museum of American Art is proud to be the final and only northeast venue for the exhibition, following its presentation at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, and the North Carolina Museum of Art.