An unprecedented examination of the underexplored late work of the iconic American modernist
“Griffin’s study of O’Keeffe’s later works is a revelation opening new dimensions of this
iconic American modernist as she grappled with age and creative evolution. . . . A
must-read.”—Megan Fox Kelly Observer “Art Books Defining 2025” Georgia O’Keeffe
(1887–1986) has long been celebrated for her paintings photographs and contributions to
American modernism in the 1930s and early 1940s yet her work from the end of World War II
through the early 1980s has been largely neglected. In this groundbreaking study Randall C.
Griffin focuses on the major pictorial series that O’Keeffe produced throughout her later
career—mysterious abstract depictions of her house in Abiquiu New Mexico and its surrounding
landscape voluptuous aerial representations of rivers skies and canyons in Arizona
Buddhist-informed depictions of clouds and daring and enigmatic portrayals of the Washington
Monument. Drawing from previously overlooked photographs letters objects and paintings
Griffin reveals how these works reflect O’Keeffe’s evolving artistic interests and ambitions
while also engaging with contemporary issues such as race class gender indigeneity
spirituality and ecology. Firmly situating O’Keeffe within the larger cultural and
political milieu this volume offers a new understanding of these visionary works and shows how
they were informed by and enriched the American postwar artistic landscape.
