Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986)
Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth
INV-8474
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986)1938
Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986) →Modernismoil on canvaspainting
Date
1938
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
53.3 × 33 cm (21 × 13 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe was fascinated by the animal bones, weathered and worn, that she found in the desert in New Mexico. In Red and Pink Rocks and Teeth she presented a jawbone alongside two stacked rocks that appear both monumental and indeterminate. The smooth, rounded forms of the red and pink rocks appear in enigmatic relation to one another, as the red pebble appears to recede from the picture plane even though it must be perched on top of the pink stone. Their abstracted forms and warm colors contrast sharply with the bleached, angular teeth and hard, cracked appearance of the jawbone and together construct a modern trompe l’oeil that questions the nature of representation and perception.
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