Ansel Adams/Georgia O’Keefe Exhibit Review

This article was written for the American University Eagle, but was never published.



By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK
Contributing Eagle Writer

The first ever comparison of two artists with a shared appreciation for the American southwest is on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibit “Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities” is a comparison between the artists works and shared subject matter on display through January 4.

The comparison pairs these artists and pin points their mutual desire to feature the American southwest in their works, either paintings or photographs. The exhibit features 42 paintings, and 54 photographs that share the same subject matter, but with differing perspectives. O’Keefe is more famous for her paintings as abstractions of flowers, where as Adams is more famous for his black and white photographs that depict the landscapes with intricate attention to details. Given their backgrounds the notion of a comparison between these two artists was intriguing.

The similarity in subjects for the two artists was also surprising. Adams spent the majority of his time photographing the Yosemite National Park and certain landscapes in Hawaii. At a glance, O’Keeffe’s more famous work was unrecognized as being related to a geographical area because the works are abstractions of flowers, shells, rocks, or other commodities found in nature.

In the 1980’s Adams noted why the American southwest was so attractive to him when he said, “Despite its seeming intrinsic ruggedness the land is unusually fragile.”

The two artists practiced the art of the extremes. On the one hand, both artists focused on grand landscapes from great distances, and then went to the opposite end of the spectrum and viewed a pine needle or a clam shell at a surprisingly close angle.

When discussing the tendency to focus on objects at a smaller scale with a closer emphasis in 1976, O’Keeffe stated, “I often painted fragments of thinks because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.”

One surprising aspect of O’Keeffe’s work was her tendency to paint trees, in addition to her more popular abstractions of flowers. The first half of the exhibit featured her more popular works, but the second half of the exhibit has more depth of her landscapes and note for the Taos church and other famous scenes featured in New Mexico. The subjects were strikingly more similar than expected and her use of color infused a sense of a new perspective, and a fresh look at the same scene against Adams’ photographs. Adams’ pieces take the extra step with detail. Where color lacks, detail takes advantage. In his photographs, there are multiple planes, and visual stimulus found in the detail.

In 1922, O’Keeffe noted this lack of detail in her work as a purposeful act. O’Keeffe said, “Nothing is less real than realism—details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis that we get the real meaning of things”

This notion of abstraction is not lost on Adams. Adams uses the scene as inspiration. A quote featured in the exhibit from 1972 said, “In the east there is emphasis on the social aspects of the medium; out here there is a fine balance between the social emphasis on the natural scene and on the abstract and experimental.”

The biggest disappointment about the exhibit was the fact that it was not a straight comparison. This four room exhibit was split in half in most cases, Adams’ works on one side, and O’Keefe’s on the other. While the resemblance between the subjects of the work and similar perspectives was striking, the viewer was forced to make that comparison from across the room, instead of being presented the two pieces on the same wall.

In many cases, without a similar photograph across the room, O’Keeffe’s paintings and their comparison for subject matter are lost in the abstraction. Without Adams’ straight depiction, O’Keeffe’s abstractions would be unnoticeable.

A high point of the exhibit lies across from a description of the exhibit and at a side entrance where one of O’Keeffe’s painting lies immediately next to one of Adams’ paintings. The most interesting aspect of that corner was that the comparison is made immediately, and without the works close proximity, the comparison would otherwise be missed.

One comparison was flooring. O’Keeffe’s piece Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico/Out Back of Marie’s II painted in 1930 was placed immediately next to Adams’ Winter Sunrise, the Sierra Nevada from Lone Pine, California printed in 1944. The two works were of the same scene from the same perspective and shared the same depth and detail that would usually be lost in the difference of medium. The only difference seemed to be the title of the works. That kind of comparison was left desired throughout the rest of the exhibit.

The exhibit is on display from now through January 4 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on 8th and F street and is definitely worth a visit if O’Keeffe or Adam’s works are intriguing. The closest metro stop is Gallery Place/Chinatown.