Georgia O’Keeffe Visions of Hawai’i at the New York Botanical Garden

by hankinslawrenceimages | Jul 20, 2018 | Malvaceae Family, Nelumbonaceae Family

Last week I had a chance to see an art exhibit I’ve been waiting to see for almost a year. Each year, the New York Botanical Garden has an art exhibition that includes an artist’s work and displays in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory related to the work. This year’s exhibit is Georgia O’Keeffe Vision of Hawai’i. It is a spectacular exhibit.

In 1939, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company commissioned O’Keeffe to produce images for them to use in advertising campaigns. O’Keeffe spent nine weeks exploring, photographing and painting. Once the works were completed, they were exhibited in New York in 1940. The Hawaiian Pineapple Company used two of the paintings in their promotional campaigns.

Seventeen of O’Keeffe’s Hawaiian paintings are currently on display in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Art Gallery. The paintings include both floral and landscape paintings.

My favorite painting in the exhibit is Hibiscus with Plumaria (on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC). O’Keeffe brings the flowers to life in ways that I only wish I could do in my photographs.

Hibiscus with Plumeria by Georgia O’Keeffe

During her stay in Hawaii, O’Keeffe visited the Iao Valley on Maui. The landscapes she saw inspired her to paint a series of three paintings of waterfalls. My favorite is Waterfall No. III, Iao Valley, Maui (on loan from the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii). As I looked at the painting of the waterfall, I felt like I was looking at a painting of a calla lily surrounded by green leaves.

Waterfall No. III, Iao Valley, Maui by Georgia O’Keeffe

In addition to the paintings in the Art Gallery, the horticultural staff at the garden has created displays in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory featuring tropical flowers of Hawaii. Three of my favorite flowers on display were this wonderful yellow orange hibiscus, the pink-purple bougainvillea and the lotus blossoms.

Orange Hibiscus © 2018 Patty Hankins

Bougainvillea © 2018 Patty Hankins

Lotus © 2018 Patty Hankins

The Georgia O’Keeffe Visions of Hawai’i exhibit is on display at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx until October 28, 2018. I highly recommended visiting the gardens and seeing the exhibition if you can. The Conservatory displays make it easy to see where O’Keeffe got her inspiration for many of her paintings.

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my favorite artists. I love the way she shows details in flowers. I’d love to know who your favorite artist is and why you like their work?