“Dearest – Even my bones seem to cry for you.”
The letters between Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stiegltiz welcome the reader into a vivid documentation of their relationship. One of the most prominent couples in art history, over the course of their 30 year romance, more than 6,250,000 sealed words were shared between the two via letters. Amidst these pages, the minds behind two of the greatest artists of the 20th century are realised.
O’Keefe developed letter writing after her move to New Mexico; they largely act as a homage to the landscape, a literal ‘love letter’ to the Southwest. The rest of her letters, however, document her relationship with photographer Alfred Stiegltiz. The couple’s relationship was predominantly sustained through these letters, revealing a wholly raw humility to the couple, sometimes vicious, sometimes tender, but always passionate.
“Look at me. I am alone with the sheet of paper and the pen,” writes Evelyn Waugh, tapping into the raw relationship between her and the letter she is about to write. She emphasises the simplicity of the act, to sit down, with a pen, and empty a little of your mind, giving it to someone else. It’s the immediacy of it, the unbuttoned quality of it, that’s so special. They are so personal, it almost feels wrong to be reading them… well, almost.
In 1916, O’Keefe admits, “Stieglitz- I’m getting to like you so tremendously that it sometimes scares me.” New York City, 1916, Stieglitz replies, “You are a very, very great Woman.—You have given me — I can’t tell you what it is — but it is something tremendous.” On February 1, 1916, writing from Columbia, South Carolina, O’ Keefe sent her response: “Mr Stieglitz, I like what you write me, maybe I don’t exactly understand your meaning, but I like it.” Witnessing this discourse, it’s almost as if I’m sitting across the table from them, observing the buds of a relationship which will go on to grow into a 30 year affair.
The couple’s entire relationship is mapped out in these pages, from slightly stunted strangers to ardent lovers their relationship unravels through their years of correspondence, creating an anthology of their love. A keen observer of nature, O’Keefe would enclose feathers within her letters, seeing them as symbols of her life and art in New Mexico. Sending them back east to Stieglitz, she sends little portions of her life to him, and in doing so, little portions of herself.
In 1936, against the backdrop of Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, O’Keefe wrote, “Maybe I’ve been absurd about wanting to do a big flower painting, but I’ve wanted to do it and that is that. I’m going to try. Wish me luck.” A few months later O’Keefe exhibited ‘Jimson Weed,2 her largest flower work to be created, commissioned for over $10,000. Not only do we get a window into her personal life, but through her letters a door is opened into the interior of her creative process. These letters work to carve out the path of O’Keefe’s life, how she thinks, who she sees, and where she travels. In reading, we get a small window into some of the most creatively prolific minds ever.
“Stieglitz and O’Keefe” by Voxphoto is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.