Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George

Georgia O’Keeffe, American (1887-1986)
Lake George [formerly Reflection Seascape],
1922 Oil on canvas, 16 1/4 x 22 in.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Charlotte Mack
© Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

I don’t often travel across the country to see an art exhibit, but Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my all-time favorite artists, and I couldn’t resist when I heard about Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George.

O’Keeffe is often associated with New Mexico, but she and Alfred Stieglitz also lived on the shore of Lake George, about an hour north of Albany, New York (and 3,000 miles from my home in San Diego). The paintings she did there are some of my favorites, and I wanted to see where they were created.

The exhibition “Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George”
will be at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, New York until September 15, 2013.

The Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit presented by The Hyde Collection in the city of Glens Falls will run until September 15, 2013 and is a worthy travel destination.

In fact, the Lake George area – located in the southeast portion of Adirondack State Park – is a good year round destination. I prepped for my visit to Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George, by cruising up the lake on the Lac du Saint Sacrement, the largest of the vessels of the Lake George Steamboat Company. I appreciated the view and the sense of place this gave me.

The best way to experience Lake George is on the water – whether in a kayak or a large cruise vessel.

Once in Glens Falls, I lingered over the 58 paintings far longer than I had expected. Two things set this exhibition apart from other Georgia O’Keeffe events I’ve attended. To begin with, this is the first exhibit of the artist’s body of work produced during the time she lived in the Adirondacks (seasonally, 1918 – 1934). In addition, I loved the insight and quotations from the artist that are interspersed on panels among the paintings:

In her humble studio, nicknamed the “shanty,” O’Keeffe found a place to concentrate on her work without the distractions of city life and the intrusions of the gregarious Stieglitz family who congregated at the lake in the summer months. In 1923, she enthusiastically wrote to her friend, the writer Sherwood Anderson, “I wish you could see the place here—there is something so perfect about the mountains and the lake and the trees—Sometimes I want to tear it all to pieces—it seems so perfect—but it is really lovely—And when the household is in good running order—and I feel free to work it is very nice.”

O’Keeffe could see the barn from a window over the kitchen sink or from Stieglitz’s sitting room.

The Hyde Collection is also displaying a companion exhibition of photographs A Family Album: Alfred Stieglitz and Lake George, which includes photos of many of the people who resided on the property while Georgia O’Keeffe was in residence.

I hadn’t even thought about The Hyde’s permanent collection, but I was glad I took the time to visit. This part of the museum is a historic house containing a significant collection of paintings sculpture, furniture, and tapestries.

In conjunction with the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition, The Hyde Collection is hosting lectures, art classes, and family art experiences. I enjoyed the play Filming O’Keeffe at the Adirondack Theater Festival in Glens Falls (closes July 20) and am sorry to be missing a reading of some of the 5,000 letters O’Keeffe and Stieglitz wrote to one another between 1915 and 1946. Faraway Nearest One will take place on August 9 and 10, 2013.

Georgia O’Keeffe, American (1887-1986), Petunias, 1925
Oil on board, 18 x 30 in.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase,
Gift of the M. H. de Young Family, 1990.55
© Georgia O’Keeffe Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

If you miss Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George at The Hyde Collection, you can see the exhibition at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico (October 4 – January 26, 2014) and at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum (February 15 – May 11, 2014).

If you are able to visit the Lake George / Glens Falls area, the Sagamore Resort and the Boathouse B&B – both in Bolton Landing – would be great places to stay.

The Sagamore Resort is located on Lake George in Bolton Landing, New York.

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Tags: Adirondack State Park, Adirondacks, Adirondaks, Alfred Stieglitz, art exhibit, art exhibition, exhibit, Georgia O"Keeffe, Glens Falls, Lake George, local culture, New York, NY, paintings, photography, The Hyde Collection

Category: USA Eastern States