Georgia O'Keeffe--Hands

Alfred Stieglitz, negative 1919; print late 1920s or 1930s

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Artist: Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864–1946)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Size: Image (Trimmed To Mount): 24.2 × 19.5 cm (9 1/2 × 7 11/16 in.)
Culture: American
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

The camera always stood near the wall-a box maybe a foot square and four or five inches thick. It stood on its rickety tripod with the black head cloth over it-a bit worn with much use-maybe a bulb hanging down on a small rubber cord. Beside the camera was folded a dirty white umbrella that was a large white circle when opened. ... These things were always around nearby so he could grab them...

--Georgia O'Keeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz shared a New York City apartment where he likely made this photograph of her. Many of his early portraits of O'Keeffe-like this one made two years after they became a couple-reflect their passion for each other. Stieglitz launched O'Keeffe's career by exhibiting her paintings and drawings at his New York gallery, 291. Eventually they married, and he continued making portraits of her throughout their lives together.

This image displays a degree of eroticism as O'Keeffe's hands-with palms facing the camera-look as if they are about to squeeze a round shape in her Drawing No. 17 . This "portrait" of O'Keeffe was considered highly unconventional at the time. It is like others in the series, most of which are close-ups of her body, often with one of her abstract works of art serving as a background. The figure and background seem to blend seamlessly, forming an image that borders on abstraction.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.