Georgia O'Keeffe
Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow

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Artist Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986)American, 1887–1986

CultureAmerican

Titles

Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow

Datec. 1923

PlaceUnited States

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 48 × 30 in. (121.9 × 76.2 cm)
Frame (outer): 2 1/8 × 49 1/2 × 31 1/2 in. (5.4 × 125.7 × 80 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Agnes Cullen Arnold Endowment

Object number77.331

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 203

On view

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Department

American Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionGeorgia O’Keeffe’s first experiments with
pure abstraction had been works on paper.
With the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz,
who had begun representing her work at his
gallery 291 in 1916, she shifted her production
to paintings characterized by tightly cropped
compositions, controlled brushwork, and
nuanced gradations of tone. She commented
on the nature of these works: “I found I could
say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t
say any other way—things I had no words for.”
ProvenanceEx-collection: The artist

Ex-collection: Private Collection.

Sold: via Washburn Gallery, New York, NY, to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on November 21, 1977.
Exhibition HistoryAnderson Galleries, January 29–February 10, 1923 or March 3–16, 1924.

"Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective," Museum of Modern Art, New York, May–August 1946.

"Georgia O'Keeffe Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 8–November 29, 1970; Art Institute of Chicago, January 6–February 7, 1971; San Francisco Museum of Art, March 15–April 30, 1971.

"Paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe," Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, September 8–October 19, 1980.

"A Permanent Heritage: Major Works from the Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 23, 1980–January 4, 1981.

"Nevelson & O'Keeffe: Independents of the 20th Century," Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn, New York, January 23–10 April 10, 1983.

"Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 20–25, 1987; May 21–September 3, 1988.

"Georgia O'Keeffe: 1887–1986," Smithsonian Institution, Washington, November 14, 1988–June 18, 1989.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 18–August 20, 1990; September 6, 1990–March 13, 1991.

"Twentieth Century Masterworks from the Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August–September 1990.

"Two Lives: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, a Conversation in Paintings and Photographs," The Philllips Collection, Washington, December 12, 1992–April 4, 1993; IBM Gallery of Science and Arts, New York, April 27–June 26, 1993; Minneapolis Institute of Art, July 17–September 12, 1993; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 2–December 5, 1993.

"Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities," Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, May 23–September 7, 2008; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, September 26, 2008–January 4, 2009; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 24–May 3, 2009; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 22–September 27, 2009.

"O'Keeffe and Abstraction," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 17, 2009–January 17, 2010; The Phillips Collection, Washington, February 6–May 9, 2010.

"American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 7, 2012–January 2, 2013.

“American Modern: Works from the Collection of Alice C. Simkins,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–July 19, 2015.

"Georgia O'Keeffe," Tate Modern, London, July 6–October 30, 2016.

"Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstract Variations," Seattle Art Museum, March 5–September 7, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscription: "Wedding/by Georgia OKeeffe 1925"
Verso at center, upside down, on backing board in pencil (probably not by the artist):

Not signed.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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